Berlin (PG City)

The Flight Experience Berlin is a city of massive scale and stark history. Unlike the vertical clusters of Frankfurt or London, Berlin is relatively flat and spread out, defined by its wide avenues and massive green spaces like the Tiergarten. The flight experience is a journey through Cold War history, where you can still visually trace the "scar" of the former Berlin Wall separating the architecture of the East and West.

The primary commercial hub is Berlin Brandenburg (EDDB) in the south. However, for simulation enthusiasts, the real joy is visiting the "Ghost Airports." Both Tegel (EDDT) and the legendary Tempelhof (EDDI) are closed in the real world, but their runways and iconic terminal structures remain as massive visual landmarks (and are often reactivated in simulator add-ons).

Visual Highlights

• The Fernsehturm (TV Tower): Located at Alexanderplatz, this sphere-on-a-needle is the absolute reference point for Berlin. Standing 368 meters high, it is visible from practically anywhere in the Brandenburg region.

• Tempelhof Airport (The Mother of All Airports): Even though it is now a public park, the massive curved terminal building (one of the largest buildings on Earth) and the distinct circular taxiway apron are impossible to miss.

• The Reichstag & Brandenburg Gate: In high-quality photogrammetry, you can see the glass dome of the Parliament building. It sits right next to the Brandenburg Gate and the straight tree-lined cut of the Unter den Linden boulevard.

• Teufelsberg: On a man-made hill in the Grunewald forest to the west, you can spot the decaying white radar domes of this former NSA listening station. It looks like a sci-fi outpost in the middle of the trees.

• Victory Column (Siegessäule): Standing in the middle of the Tiergarten park, this golden statue on a pillar acts as a central roundabout for the city's main east-west axis.

Pilot’s Note: Fly the "Airlift Approach." Although Tempelhof (EDDI) is closed, you can still fly the historic VFR approach path used during the Berlin Airlift. Approach from the east at 1,500ft, aiming directly for the gap between the apartment blocks at Neukölln. The glide path was notoriously steep and requires you to skim over the graveyards and rooftops before dropping into the vast open field of the airport park.