ZMHG is a small, regional airport serving the village of Hatgal (or Khatgal) in the Khövsgöl Aimag of northern Mongolia. The airport has one unlighted, unpaved runway and a small terminal building. There is no fuel at the airport (as far as I could tell) and no tower frequency, but the tower can be contacted via Unicom on 130.00 MHz. Hatgal (population 2800) is the gateway to Khövsgöl Nuur National Park, which surrounds the eponymous lake near the border with Russia. Khövsgöl Nuur is renowned as one of the oldest lakes in the world, and the most pristine, with water so pure that it can be consumed without treatment. It is the second largest lake in Asia by volume and a major tourist destination, with fishing, boating, hiking and horse riding as principal attractions. Surrounded by mountains covered in pine, the lake is at the transition between the steppe of central Mongolia and the taiga of Siberia, and is considered a national treasure both for its beauty and as the main source of Mongolia’s drinking water. Numerous small resorts and ger camps dot the western shore of the lake and are accessible by a road leading north from Hatgal. Most tourists stay in this area. The road along the eastern shore leads to the small village of Khankh near the Russian border, but is often impassable. About halfway up the lake is a beautiful spot called Borsog with some tourist accommodations. This and several ger camps can be seen from the air along the shore, and are accessible from the lake by amphibious plane. A seasonal ferry, which plies the lake from Khankh to Hatgal, is popular with Russian visitors who can travel to the main tourist area without braving the road.
ZMHG in MSFS
Hatgal Airport is a wonderful place to base an amphibious float plane in MSFS, as a jumping off point for exploring the lake and mountains in the national park. Sadly, it is poorly represented in the current sim. I have made numerous changes and provided several additions to the airport. I have changed the runway surface and the apron from grass to gravel, as indicated in the airport description, and have added three parking spots on the apron along with three static aircraft (including a large twin that is offloading passengers.) I have created a new terminal building using existing MSFS assets that matches the pictures of the terminal building reasonably well. I have also added several scenery items such as antennas, fences, a car park, picnic tables, a wind sock, and outbuildings that match the scenery in pictures of the airport. The terminal building and adjacent apron are now lighted, but the runway remains unlighted. Finally, I have changed the vegetation on nearby hills from deciduous trees to pine trees to match the actual forest cover.
NOTES
To install the airport, unzip and place the folder titled "mulberrywing-airport-zmhg-hatgal" in your community folder.
Khövsgöl Nuur is considered one of the planet’s seventeen freshwater “ancient lakes,” having existed for more than two million years. It shares many characteristics with nearby (and much larger) Lake Baikal in Russia. This differentiates it from large, but more recent, glacial lakes such as the Great Lakes of the US and Canada.