FunnerFlight John F. Kennedy Intl. Airport v3 for X-Plane 12

Introduction

New York International Airport, more commonly known as “Idlewild Airport”, 
opened to commercial flying with great fanfare on the first of July in 1948. The opening ceremony was attended by about 215,000 people from around the world and included a ten-millon dollar U.S. exhibition of nine-hundred bombers, jet fighters, and other military aircraft.

Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, the driving force behind the development of the airport, stated in a speech, just prior to his death six months before the airports opening, “I’m taking this opportunity to announce to the whole world that we now have the best damn airport in the world.” The airport was renamed the John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1963 as a tribute to, and following the assassination of, the 35th president.

New York had already built the Floyd Bennett Field in 1931 with the facilities that were considered both modern and efficient. However, the lack of a major highway connection between the airport and the city resulted in airlines continuing to operate out of a more conveniently located Newark Airport in New Jersey. Following that failure, city leaders pushed through the development of New York Municipal Airport that opened in 1939. This airport would later be known as LaGuardia Airport. Airlines flocked to the airport but the limited space available to respond to the increase in traffic made it apparent that yet another airport would be needed.

In support of the vision of an airport ten times the size of New York Municipal, the city secured 4527 acres of marshy swampland and surrounding area that included the Idlewild golf course from which the area name and colloquial name for the airport arose. The massive landfill project was seen as worth it since most air traffic would be over water and help with noise control in the surrounding towns.

From the day they broke ground right up until today, the airport has seen almost constant change and construction of one sort or another. The airport introduced Terminal City which was a concept whereby each airline would build its own terminal, making construction more practical and giving airlines incentives to compete for the best terminal designs. The International Arrivals Building, with Airline Wing Buildings at each end housing international flag carriers, was the first permanent terminal completed at KJFK and opened in 1957. The other terminals followed with the last of the original airline terminals being completed in 1962. Almost all of these terminals have been replaced.

Today, KJFK is undergoing a $19 billion USD transformation to restore the airport to the world-class gateway it was once known for. This expansion and rebuilding project is scheduled to end when the new Terminal 1, started in September of 2022, is completed in 2030. It is being built where the current Terminal 1 is sited and will include the areas formerly occupied by Terminals 2 and 3. It will be the largest terminal at KJFK with twenty-three gates and a total footprint of 2.6 million square feet.

If you are interested in a detailed history of the airport, I would refer you to this fourteen part, and very detailed, article at AirportHistory.org.

Installation and Documentation

KJFK is available from Aerosoft, SimMarket and the X-Plane.org store. How you install it depends on where you get it. If you get it from Aerosoft, you will use their Aerosoft One software to install the scenery package which is the equivalent of step one below. If you get it from the .org store, you will download a zip file and complete step one yourself. In both cases, you will need to do steps 2 and 3. If you start X-Plane and get a scenery error message, double check that you completed steps 2 and 3.

1.Unzip the KJFK v3.0 folder and place it into your Custom Scenery folder.
2. Update/install the OpenSceneryX Library. www.opensceneryx.com
3. Click on this link. Click the “Download this file” button, and download the “Aircraft-Static_and_Animated” file. Unzip and place into your Custom Scenery folder.

Once this is done, you will find a “MANUAL and info” folder inside the KJFK_v3 XP12 folder. Here you will find a quick start document and a manual, both of which contain the three steps above. You will also find relevant airport charts and a locally stored version of the Wikipedia article about KJFK.

The Airfield

KJFK is sprawled across 5200 acres of land located 13 miles southeast of New York City in the borough of Queens on the western end of Long Island. This area is occupied by four runways, five terminals, a myriad of taxiways, and a number of ancillary buildings. Kennedy is one of twenty airports in the US that have an active runway status lights system. The Runway Entrance Lights are in use for taxiways along 4L/22R between 13L/31R and 13R/31L. 31L is equipped with Takeoff Hold Lights. The airport also utilizes ASDE-X which requires all moving aircraft to have transponders operating in altitude reporting mode and ADS-B enabled if the aircraft is so equipped.

Runways, Taxiways, and Aprons
The pilot approaching KJFK will be directed to one of four runways by ATC. The airport is built around two sets of parallel runways. The longest, at 14,511 feet is 13R/31L, known as the Bay Runway since it runs along the shore of Jamaica Bay. It is the second longest commercial runway in the United States with Denver having the longest. It is long enough to have been designated as an emergency landing strip for the Space Shuttle. The runway was rebuilt in 2010 when it was widened to its current 200 foot width. 4L/22R is the second at 12,079 feet. 13L/31R is 10,000 feet in length while 4R/22L is the shortest at the airport with a length of 8400 feet. Threshold elevations are listed at either 12 or 13 feet. Runway 4R/22L is the only runway of the four that does not intersect another.

The runways in this scenery package are accurately rendered with a concrete block construction in use for the three major runways and an asphalt surface for 4R/22L. All four runways are correctly represented with precision instrument makings and the ever present black rubber streaks. 4R/22L includes the EMAS (engineered material arresting system) segments at each end. This is accomplished with the use of satellite imagery which brings us to the first thing we see in this scenery that would benefit from some fine tuning.

You will see, as advertised, the use of satellite imagery throughout this rendition of KJFK which provides the airport with some very realistic visuals as you are flying overhead. The availability of high resolution scenery for commercial use is limited and expensive which is the likely reason that low resolution imagery is utilized for this scenery package.

The limitations imposed by the imagery are blurriness at low altitudes, ground textures that do not have PBR properties, and scenery that does respond to the season changes that X-Plane 12 is capable of producing. These issues are not something any developer can do anything about which leads to the frequent debates about whether to use imagery or to develop without it. Some developers have released packages where the purchaser can choose which to use.

Moving from the runways to the taxiways, we find an accurate layout of the large number of connecting surfaces at KJFK. There are many islands that required managing when laying out the asphalt surfaces and these are all nicely handled. Taxiways Alpha and Bravo pass over the Van Wyck Expressway and the developer has opted to allow the imagery to depict this rather than modeling bridges. Painted lines are clear and accurate and make moving about the complex network. Correct lighting takes over this job after dark even though the markings remain visible in the glow of landing / taxi lights.

The taxiways serve a single purpose, of course, and that is to connect the runways to the aprons. The largest continuous apron area is that around Terminals 5 and 7. This is a long stretch of concrete running parallel to 13L/31R. A small area of the Terminal 5 apron is on the south side of the projecting concourse and gates. Adjacent to that to the south lies the segmented apron for Terminal 4 that nestles into the corner created by the junctions of 4L and 31L.

A fifth would be the area adjacent to the General Aviation terminal near the end of runway 13. This apron is a potpourri of concrete and various asphalt coverings crisscrossed by a network of ground traffic routes.

From Terminal 4, heading west, we come to the construction area that was, and will again be, Terminal 1. The functional Terminal 1 lies next to that with the smallest apron area of the five commercial terminals. To the northwest is Terminal 8 with its split concourse design connected by underground tunnels that include moving walkways.

What is marked as the General Aviation apron is the previous location of Hangar 12 and the TWA Commissary. A photo of the airport taken in 2009 shows the buildings as they are presented in our current model with only the rounded hangar remaining in a 2019 photo. Next to this area, towards the end of runway 13R, the current GA apron is reproduced with a helipad that is accurately placed but would benefit from the correct markings, and a FBO building that would be more recognizable represented with an office building rather than a warehouse.

The aprons are laid out in a correct configuration and what modeled directional lines are included are clear, reliable guides to follow to your destination at the airport. The lines depicted by the imagery only are not as clear. The parking guidelines at the gates are clear and accurate but do not have the aircraft types denoted.

The airport has a balanced amount of ground traffic and does feature three dimensional airport personnel at various locations with stationary vehicles. Where clutter is modeled, it is appropriate to the setting and placed in a believable manner. The jetways are operational and I applaud the choice to use the X-Plane native ones as opposed to relying on an add-in.

The use of imagery for parts of the apron introduces a nice level of reality while flying over the airport but, again, keeping in mind the developer has no control over this, the low resolution introduces anomalies when your aircraft is on the ground. These portions of the aprons do not have the PBR light responsive property and they do not reflect wet weather conditions.

The clutter baked into the photos that provides the reality experience from above is a multi-color smear from the pilots seat which the developer attempts to mitigate with the positioning of three dimensional objects on top of these areas. There are places where the markings are misaligned with the underlying markings in the photos.

Terminals
JFK currently has five operational terminals numbered 1,4,5,7,& 8. Terminal 2 is modeled in this rendition of the airport but it was closed in January of 2023 and subsequently demolished. The new Terminal 1 will be occupying the spaces previously used by Terminal 1,2, & 3. The terminals are on the outside of a rectangular loop defined by the AirTrain tracks that are used to get from one terminal to another.

Terminal 1 partner airlines include Airfrance, Korean Air, and Lufthansa. When it was opened in 1998, Japan Airlines was part of the consortium. Terminal one has has twenty-three contract carriers and is the primary International Terminal at KJFK. It has the capacity to handle large aircraft including the Airbus A380 that is operated by Lufthansa and Korean Air for limited specific routes.

Terminal 1 is modeled with the proper architectural forms accurately located in relation to each other. It is a complex structure that is well modeled and nicely detailed in terms of texture placement and construction. The glass surfaces are well executed and reflective as would be expected and feature a very nice lighting effect during the night hours. The surface texture is a good match to that of the actual building but the use of what appears to be low resolution photographic type textures instead of PBR textures creates a flat effect that does not respond to X-Planes photometric lighting engine. This type of texture is used throughout the project for all custom textured buildings.

The central Green Garage attached to Terminal 1 is now out of service as is the Terminal AirTrain station which is the station modeled at the northeast end of the garage that is not attached to a terminal. It would be a plus if the stations featured the elevated rail tracks.

The sixty-year-old Terminal 2 that started service on November 18, 1962 was the oldest operational terminal at KJFK prior to its closing. Here it is nicely represented and the developer has done an admirable job of creating that abandoned building feel within the midst of a busy airport by excluding any additional apron clutter or machinery and fencing off the area with a bright orange construction fence.

It looks like it is about to join the fate of the old Terminal 3, also known as Pan Am’s Worldport, which is the mounded dirt area full of construction materials next door. This is one area that does benefit from the photo scenery since it adds a lot of detail in an area pretty much only seen from altitude. The mound work is an admirable stylistic decision to bring a three dimensional feel to the area rather than leaving it flat.

Terminal 4 is the largest terminal at KJFK and is also the only privately operated terminal in the United States. The terminal covers nearly two-million square feet. It is home to twenty-two airlines, has over 12,000 employees, and serves over 25 million passengers annually. It is operated by JFK International Air Terminal, LLC (JFKIAT) and has been since 1997. JFKIAT is owned by Schiphol USA Inc. which is an affiliate of the Royal Schiphol Group based in Amsterdam. The terminal was the first to connect a lounge to the A380 with a jet bridge allowing passengers to board directly from the Emirates lounge. The terminal has 38 gates located in two concourses.

The model before us in this scenery package captures this huge expanse of a structure quite nicely in terms of layout and structure. The glass surfaces in this terminal have a nice reflective surface and provide for a realistic night lighting of the building. As with the AirTrain stations, the openings at the ends of the terminal would be more easily understood if elevated rail tracks were entering and exiting through them. Given the size of the structure and limitations of X-Plane, it is not surprising to find that areas of this monstrous facility find themselves floating above ground.

Terminal 5 is JetBlue’s main hub for both domestic and international service. There are in-terminal connections to partner airlines Cape Air and Aer Lingus. Terminal 5 has thirty gates on what is considered a singular concourse. It is located behind, and attached to, the TWA Hotel. The Eero Saarinen designed TWA Flight Center was designated a New York City landmark in 1994 which saved it from any talk of demolition. It is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The current terminal was built around the Saarinen landmark and completed in October, 2008. The hotel was completed and opened in 2018.

The most noticeable and iconic feature of this terminal structure is the hotel roof and the flight tubes connecting the hotel to Terminal 5. (The flight tubes were featured in a scene of the DiCaprio and Hanks film “Catch Me If You Can.”)

Creating this iconic building for X-Plane was likely no easy task and it has been captured incredibly well. This building is the remains of the TWA Flight Center and houses various lounges and other facilities while the actual hotel rooms are housed in two “wing” buildings to the left and right that are not featured in the model before us. Perhaps they can be added with a future update.

Also, It would be an amazing bit of eye candy if the developer was able to add the plaza where a1958 Lockheed Constellation sits with boarding ladders that lead to a very unique cocktail lounge. The front entry sidewalk area is recreated with a concrete texture the developer has shaped to cover the baked in image of the iconic roof which reduces the distraction it would otherwise cause.

The terminal, while not an exact replica, is a very close representation of the real building including the broad sweeping “Y” concourse. Details include the large number of various roof objects the covered stairways located at each gate. It is nicely constructed and treated with properly placed textures. The minor variations from the actual building are minimally noticeable. The arch construction, including the Skywalk connection to the AirTrain station, and gates 27 – 30 at the northwest end of the terminal has not been included in this model.

Next to Terminal 5 is the construction area that is dated between the old Terminal 6 being torn down and the new Terminal 6 construction commencing. When completed in 2028, it will feature ten gates with nine being able to accommodate wide body aircraft. JetBlue will have some services out of this terminal but the primary air carrier will be the Lufthansa Group. There will be both landside and airside connections to Terminal 5.

Terminal 7, previously known as the BOAC Terminal, operated by JFK Millennium Partners who are building the new Terminal 6, is scheduled for closure and demolition as part of the second phase of the Terminal 6 project in 2026. Until then, it is being used for both domestic and international flights operated by Alaska Airlines, Icelandair, Frontier, and several other airlines.

The terminal was opened on June 30, 1970 and dedicated by UK Royal Princess Alexandra on the 24th of September. An inscription on a commemorative plaque unveiled by the Princess reads: “These stones from three famous landmarks, symbolise the air bridge between Europe and North America. The lower stones were taken from London Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge whilst this cross-piece is from Signal Hill, Newfoundland, the point from which Marconi transmitted the first trans-Atlantic wireless signal and close to the point from which Alcock and Brown commenced the historic first trans-Atlantic flight.”

Gollins, Melvin, Ward, & Partners were commissioned by the British Overseas Airways Corporation to design the facility and signed up Air Canada as a subtenant of the terminal. In 1971, the designers received the annual award of the US Concrete Industry Board for the terminal for the originality and application of concrete in construction and design.

The rendered version of Terminal 7 captures the very segmented appearance of the building with all it’s varying shapes, heights, and alcoves. Though it differs from the actual building, the landside entrance to the terminal captures the essence of with the application of the overhanging roof, glass surfaces, and the exterior structures over the road. The front is completed with the traffic island and connections to the garage.

On the airside of Terminal 7, many details are captured and presented in a satisfactory manner. A rather clever bit of work was laying in traffic routes for ground vehicles that includes the route that travels under the terminal. While all the gates are present and modeled, Gates 9 and 12 (5 and 1 in the flight configuration window of X-plane 12 where the gate numbers are reversed) could benefit from a slight re-alignment to prevent aircraft encroachment. Those two gates, coincidentally, are not configured to work with X-Planes gate control feature as indicated by the grayed out option in the ground control dialog box.

Terminal 8 is home to American Airlines and welcomed British Airways from Terminal 7 when a terminal update project reached completion in 2022. The two sections are connected by underground passages that include a moving walkway. It is, currently, the largest terminal at Kennedy and will be so until the completion of the new Terminal 1.

The model before us has an accurate shape for the terminal as it appeared prior to the completion of the 2019 – 2022 upgrade project. The well constructed main segment of the terminal allows the reflective roof to drape over it with an appearance suggestive of an airplane wing. This segment gracefully joins the concourse segment of the building.

The roofs on the concourses appear to be representations of airplane wing panels. The model is finished with gray block walls and reflective glass work. Details include the lattice work at the end of the building and the “rivets” around each roof segment.

Gate placement is accurate. Gates 37 and 39 are not operational jetways as that option is grayed out on the ground services window.

The Tower
The 320-feet tall KJFK tower is attached to the airside of terminal 4 and began operations in 1994. In addition to the usual tower equipment, an Airport Surface Detection Equipment (ASDE) radar is located atop the structure. This requires all aircraft on the ground to have active transponders and ADS-B (if equipped) actively signaling anytime they are moving.

The structure of the model before us is a well modeled and accurate representation of the KJFK tower including the ASDE radar. The collection of antennae with operational beacon lights atop the tower is a nicely added detail. Each protruding level of the tower is presented and connects nicely with the central tower structure. It is finished with various reflective textures and glass textures suggestive of the actual tower.

Surroundings

Outside of the passenger terminals at KJFK, the developer has modeled several outlying and ancillary buildings. Each passenger terminal has an attached parking garage. The large expanse that starts towards the southwest of Terminal 8, wraps around the end of runway 13L, then runs parallel up to the threshold of 22R, is filled with various cargo buildings, warehouses, and terminals. These buildings are rendered with varying textures suitable to each one. Many of the buildings are relatively simple in construction while others took a lot more work to capture the details.

The remainder of the surrounding environment is composed of custom trees and the satellite photography used for the ground. While not necessarily a problem, it would be a plus if the trees were 3D, season affected.

The developer’s limited available choices for satellite coverage for the area means that the scenery that had to be used is no newer than 2021 as evidenced by the area at the end of Terminal 8 where the gates are missing, and by the taxiway configuration at the end of runway 22R. Satellite imagery can vary widely in terms of color and this imagery definitely swings to the brighter and over-exposed end of the spectrum.

Here and there, if you are flying very low and very slow, you will find evidence of the developer’s sense of humor as various livestock make their appearance at the airport.

Just Flight Traffic Global
Traffic Global is an available plug-in for X-Plane that fills your airspace and airports with AI aircraft at a very small frame rate cost. The Windows version is available via this link while here’s the macOS link of Traffic Global.

The screenshots in this review include AI aircraft instilled in the simulation by Traffic Global.

The AI aircraft moving about KJFK do so in a realistic and accurate manner. This is not driven entirely by the plug-in and only achieves this level of functioning if the scenery developer takes the time to create accurate taxi routes and define accurate runway usage guidelines for the airport. The effort that went into this allows Traffic Global, coupled with the use of Laminar ground traffic, to really bring this scenery to life.

Summary

John F. Kennedy International Airport is one of those airports that has the capacity to be a real gem in the simulator universe with it’s massive size, multiple terminal buildings featuring different architectural styles, complex and challenging taxiways, dense surrounding commercial areas, and its location in the shadows of the New York City skyline.

The airport is also one end of the world’s longest non-stop flight route: Singapore Airlines’ Singapore (SIN) to New York (JFK) route covering 9,537 miles in about 18 hours and 50 minutes). FunnerFlight has courageously attempted to do just this and has done so in a satisfying manner that is far closer to the reality of KJFK than the default airport.

Every part of this airport takes a step towards bringing the virtual pilot closer to a real life experience of this large facility. On approach, the photo imagery creates a realistic welcome to the area. At landing, accurate runways and an intricate taxiway system immerse the pilot so the shortcomings of using photoscenery don’t distract.

If you have Traffic Global, those taxiways and runway use rules will, at times, set you up with a challenge to successfully navigate your way to one of the modeled terminal gateways where ground controls at nearly all the gates will connect you to the jetways.

While each of the five active terminal buildings and the one closed terminal building are close enough to the real world buildings to provide for a convincing experience, it would be a real plus for this package if those buildings could ever be updated to PBR textures. Also, in a perfect world, high resolution satellite imagery would be made available to small scale developers at a price they could afford and that would resolve some issues created by low resolutions. In the meantime, perhaps a future update might include completely modeled aprons so that satellite imagery could be an option based on user preference.

All in all, this is an admirable effort at recreating a large and complex airport. The degree of its appeal is limited only by the extent to which virtual pilots insist on true reality in their scenery.

You can buy the FunnerFlight KJFK version 3 for X-Plane 12 add-on package via the dedicated Aerosoft webpage or from X-Plane.Org and finally, also via SimMarket.

Until next time, cheers and blue skies!

Feel free to contact me if you’ve got additional questions related to this impression. You can reach me via email Angelique.van.Campen@gmail.com or to Angelique@X-Plained.com.

With Greetings,
Paul Beckwith

 

 

Add-on:	Payware FunnerFlight KJFK v3 X-Plane 12
Publisher | Developer:	Aerosoft / X-Plane.Org / SimMarket | FunnerFlight
Description:	Realistic representation of FunnerFlight KJFK
Software Source / Size:	Download / Approximately 2,14GB (download)
Reviewed by:	Paul Beckwith
Published:	March 29th 2025
Hardware specifications:	- i9-13980HX - 32 GB DDR5 4800MHz RAM - Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080 12 GB GDDR6X - X-56 Flight System - Logitech G Rudder Pedals
Software specifications:	- Windows 11 Pro - X-Plane 12.1.3 r2 (64 Bit)