X-Plane 11/10 SBPL Petrolina Airport Scenery

Expert Overview

This comprehensive scenery mod brings Petrolina Senador Nilo Coelho International-Cargo Airport to life in X-Plane 11 and 10, perfectly capturing its busy cargo operations and unique layout. From meticulously crafted aprons and gates to custom city buildings and ortho-photo coverage, every detail has been carefully reproduced for an immersive flight simulation experience. The airport features significant cold-storage facilities for exporting fresh fruits and an extended runway capable of accommodating large aircraft such as the Boeing 747-400, making it a standout hub in northeastern Brazil.

In addition to its enhanced airport environment, this mod offers refined taxiways, ramp lighting, and—on X-Plane 11—built-in ground services like pushback. The local airlines Avianca, Azul, and Gol connect passengers and cargo flights to destinations such as Recife, Salvador, and São Paulo, revealing the airport’s vital role in regional travel and commerce. Having tested this scenery extensively, I found it both visually appealing and performance-friendly, adding a distinctive and enjoyable challenge for seasoned virtual pilots.

This mod was installed, tested and reviewed by Adam McEnroe for Fly Away Simulation. Adam is an FS mod expert. Read his bio here.

This is an X-Plane 11 and X-Plane 10 scenery package for Petrolina Senador Nilo Coelho International-Cargo Airport (IATA: PNZ, ICAO: SBPL) is the airport serving Petrolina, Pernambuco and Juazeiro, Bahia, in Brazil. It is named after the Petrolina-born Senator Nilo de Sousa Coelho (1920 - 1983). It is operated by Infraero.

It includes corrected aprons, ramps, gates, taxiways, lighting system, city buildings, ortho-photo scenery for the airfield area, and (XP11 only) airport ground services (like push back).

Petrolina Airport handles the export of fresh fruits from the Sao Francisco River Valley to Europe and the United States. The cargo terminal operates with 6 large coolers with capacity for 17,000 boxes each plus 2 cooler tunnels. In 2004, it underwent a refurbishment of the passenger terminal, to 2,027 m2 with capacity to receive 150,000 passengers per year, reinforcement and expansion of the maneuvering yard, which allowed a better quality of asphalt reinforcement of the runway and aircraft yard, extended to 16,406m, With five parking positions for large aircraft and with ten positions in total and expansion of the airstrip, going to 3,250 meters long by 45 meters wide allowing the operation of large aircraft such as the Boeing 747- 400. Current commercial airlines and destinations include:
- Avianca Brazil from/to => Recife/SBRF, Salvador/SBSV, Sao Paulo-Guarulhos/SBGR
- Azul Brazilian Airlines from/to => Campinas/SBKP, Juazeiro do Norte/SBJU
- Gol Airlines from/to => Sao Paulo-Guarulhos/SBGR

This scenery was tested and is operational (as of May 31, 2017) in "X-Plane 11.02b1 64 bit", Windows 10 Home. It was also tested and is also operational (as of May 31, 2017) in "X-Plane 10.51 64 bit", Windows 10 Home.

A set of PDF charts (updated as of March 2017) are provided for SBPL/PNZ airport. They are official and free of charge, provided by the Brazilian aeronautical authority. You can find them in the folder "SBPL Charts", in this package. These charts are constantly updated by the Brazilian aeronautical authority. Visit them online to download future updates: http://www.aisweb.aer.mil.br/index.cfm?i=cartas (search for SBPL in the search box).

X-Plane 11 Installation:

Two folders are provided. You only need the one marked XP11. Copy and paste the folder "BR PE SBPL - Petrolina Airport XP11 v1.0.0", and all their content, inside your "\X-Plane 11\Custom Scenery\" folder, as usual in the X-Plane world. Do not copy the folder marked XP10.

X-Plane 10 Installation:

Two folders are provided. You only need the one marked XP10. Copy and paste the folder "BR PE SBPL - Petrolina Airport XP10 v1.0.0", and all their content, inside your "\X-Plane 10\Custom Scenery\" folder, as usual in the X-Plane world. Do not copy the folder marked XP11.

Additional scenery libraries needed:

Only the default X-Plane 11 libraries, by Laminar Research, are needed. No third party libraries are used.