X-Plane Hawaii Complete Photoreal (Orthophoto) Scenery

Expert Overview

This comprehensive scenery add-on offers fully photoreal coverage of the entire Hawaiian archipelago, bringing every coastline, mountain, and town across Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island to vivid life. It merges USDA and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery at ZL14 and ZL16 while layering accurate overlay data for roads, autogen, and shorelines, delivering a highly detailed environment for low-and-slow approaches or high-altitude flights. Compatible with X-Plane 12, 11, and 10, it also includes elevation files (mesh) and works smoothly alongside Alpilot’s enhanced terrain packs for even sharper landscapes.

Throughout my tests, I found the pack pre-assembled in native DDS format, saving time without sacrificing performance or visuals. Regions near Hilo may show slight color inconsistencies, but overall the scenery remains remarkably immersive with crisp textures and authentic topography. Airports from Daniel K. Inouye International (PHNL) to smaller fields like Waimea-Kohala (PHMU) are all seamlessly integrated, creating an ideal gateway to explore these iconic islands from a pilot’s perspective. Donations to the developer, Forkboy2, are welcomed in appreciation of this exceptional freeware effort.

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

A complete photoreal (ortho) scenery pack covering the entire US island state of Hawaii bringing the islands up to photorealistic detail based on satellite imagery.

This pack is compatible with X-Plane 12, 11, and X-Plane version 10.

The scenery is based on satellite imagery data provided and released into the public domain.  Many of the US packages were sourced from USDA Farm Service Agency data although some areas use data from Sentinel-2 open-source imagery.

The photo data included in the pack is based on ZL (zoom level) 14 and ZL 16 imagery so even low and slow flights benefit from the addition of this pack however higher altitude flights look even more realistic.

Elevation/mesh data is included in the pack but it is not as highly detailed as the mesh you can find in the Alpilot packs (mentioned below).  Also included is complete overlay coverage for the area - to ensure the autogen, roads, and shorelines are accurately depicted within the sim with the scenery applied.

From Kauai to the Big Island - every square meter of Hawaii has been included in high-resolution photoreal/ortho format.

All of the main islands included;

• Hawai?i (The Big Island)
• Maui (The Valley Isle)
• O?ahu (The Gathering Place)
• Kaua?i (The Garden Isle)
• Moloka?i (The Friendly Isle)
• L?na?i (The Pineapple Isle)
• Ni?ihau (The Forbidden Isle)
• Kaho?olawe (The Target Isle)

However, as stated above - all of the smaller islands, islets, and atolls are also included in the pack - it covers the entire region.

Some airports and locations to start exploring the scenery

All of the existing airports available in X-Plane for Hawaii have their entire surroundings wrapped in realistic photoreal scenery after installing the add-on.  So you may start from somewhere you know (if you've flown here before) or use some of our suggestions below.

The top 10 are listed below - they have been listed in order of flight traffic.

1. Daniel K. Inouye International Airport - Honolulu, Oahu (PHNL)
2. Kahului Airport - Kahului, Maui (PHOG)
3. Ellison Onizuka Kona International Airport at Keahole - Kailua-Kona, Hawaii (PHKO)
4. Lihue Airport - Lihue, Kauai (PHLI)
5. Hilo International Airport - Hilo, Hawaii (PHTO)
6. Molokai Airport - Kaunakakai, Molokai (PHMK)
7. Lanai Airport - Lanai City, Lanai (PHNY)
8. Kapalua Airport - Lahaina, Maui (PHJH)
9. Kalaupapa Airport - Kalaupapa, Molokai (PHLU)
10. Waimea-Kohala Airport - Kamuela (Waimea), Hawaii (PHMU)

The developer has noted;

While the overall imagery is generally good - there are some areas that have color issues (especially around Hilo) that are hoped to be fixed in later revisions of this package.

This pack pairs well with Alpilot's mesh scenery packages and the additional use of third-party mesh really makes the terrain beneath you "pop" and come to life.  You can view the HD version here and (if you have space) find the UHD versions here.

This scenery is also compatible with X-Plane 10.

Note

These photorealistic files have already been pre-built (or pre-compiled) into the DDS format ready for X-Plane. While they make the package larger and download times longer, we find users prefer this over having to convert the files themselves manually. The archive has been zipped using higher compression which slightly overcomes the larger uncompressed DDS format.

Donate to the developer

If you find this scenery useful, helpful, or damn right awesome then we ask you kindly to donate to the developer, Forkboy2 for the hard work and effort that went into creating this freeware pack. You can make a donation to his work on the PayPal page here.