Microsoft is celebrating the long history of its flight simulator with the release of Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition, the franchise's most advanced release to date. Among the many features included in this update is a realistic airliner, the Airbus A310-300, rendered with high precision.
The 40th Anniversary Edition also includes, for the first time since the platform's release in 2006, helicopters and gliders. The long list (see image below) also includes 7 historic aircraft: the 1903 Wright Flyer, the 4 Curtiss JN-1915 Jenny, the 1927 Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis, the 3 Douglas DC-1935, the 21 Grumman G-1937 Goose, the 1947 Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, and the 4 Hughes H-1947 Hercules "Spruce Goose", the largest seaplane and wooden plane ever built.
Along with planes, the developers also added four classic airports, including Meigs Field in Chicago, a traditional home airport for the Microsoft Flight Simulator franchise. In summary, Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition features the following brand new content:
- Airbus A310 airliner
- 2 helicopters and 14 helipads
- 2 gliders and 15 glider airports
- 7 famous historical aircraft (see above)
- 4 classic commercial airports
- 24 classic missions from the franchise's past
Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition is available as a free update. The title is available on Xbox Series X|S and PC with Xbox Game Pass, PC Game Pass, Windows and Steam, and on Xbox One and mobile phones, tablets and desktop PCs via Xbox Cloud Gaming.
1.29.28.0 Release Notes and 40th Anniversary Edition Content
- 7 classic aircraft:
- 1903 Wright Flyer
- 1915 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny
- 1927 Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis
- 1935Douglas DC-3
- 1937 Grumman G-21 Goose
- 1947 Havilland DHC-2 Beaver
- 1947 Hughes H-4 Hercules
- 2 helicopters:
- Guimbal Cabri G2
- Bell 407
- 2 gliders/gliders:
- DG Aviation LS8-18
- DG-1001E neo
- 1 realistic airliner:
- Airbus A310-300
- 4 emblematic airports:
- Hong Kong Kai Tak
- Meigs Field in Chicago
- Princess Juliana International in Sint Maarten
- First Flight Airport, Kitty Hawk
- 24 classic activities from previous Flight Simulator titles:
- First flight at Kitty Hawk
- San Juan Island Race
- 1st US Airmail Route, 1918
- Aleutian Freight Race
- Grand Canyon Scenic Tour
- Transcontinental speed record
- Stretching from Hell, 1918
- Charles Lindbergh, from New York to Paris
- Hawaiian vacation
- Fly blind through the channel
- Meigs Field
- spruce goose
- Rome-Naples Air Race
- Approach to Sitka
- Monsoon
- Caribbean landing
- Hong Kong at dusk
- Waimea Canyon
- Mount Rushmore
- miami by moonlight
- San Francisco Sunset
- Mendenhall Glacier Tour
- 1950: Frontier Airlines
- Alaska Seaplane Pilot
- 7 new glider tutorial missions:
- Aerial towing
- Winch launch training
- Winch throwing training, advanced level
- Basic handling
- Slippery approach and landing
- Thermal identification
- Skyrocketing from the ridge
New features
- Live Traffic has been updated with various quality of life fixes (details below)
- A new memory defragmentation system has been implemented for DX12 to limit VRAM to the maximum
- New Dpad / keyboard arrows navigation accessibility feature is enabled by default in menus (alternative to cursor)
- AMD FSR2 graphics option is now available for PC
- The game now supports new NVIDIA technologies such as DLSS3 (including Frame Generator) and Reflex on supported NVIDIA graphics cards on PC. We also added support for 2 Super Resolution DLSS modes: Auto and DLAA
- Improved atmospheric simulation with heavy emphasis on thermals and general CFD tweaks
- Added a new in-game CFD airflow display visualization for CFD enabled aircraft (accessible under assists and can be mapped to a button/key)
- Visualization of 3D thermals can be activated via the weather panel
- New mapping for the Back to fly function, including height gain based on aircraft situation and current altitude (below 1000ft, 5000ft and 10ft), allowing you to quickly adjust your flight in a variety of contexts. Very useful during glider runs if you do not want to resume flight after landing.
Bug fixes
- Copilot will no longer request pushback service when only handling ATC communications
- Fixed a scenario where some ILS were misaligned; some missing procedures are now in the sim
- Fixed an issue where ATC was at the wrong airport when it had a VFR flight plan and landed at another airport
- ATC UI is now enabled with COM Radio for aircraft without Nav radios
- Live traffic planes no longer rotate and fly over the airport at low altitude before the initial climb
- Added departure procedures to air traffic
- Fixed live traffic planes always using the same runway in the world map
- We now use the flight plan to interpolate the position of live traffic aircraft
- Fixed cruising altitude for live traffic
- Wind direction information is applied before selecting the runway for live traffic
- Fixed an issue where loading browsing data packages with BGL browsing data deletion flags could lead to failed identity lookups and other browsing data lookups
- Fixed an issue where a priority package containing navigation data loading the same ICAO installation as a previously loaded package could not change the QMID of the installation and would receive the error "installation in a different QMID than the one the index list ICAO thinks »
- Fixed wrong call sign used by ATC for live traffic planes
- Fixed live traffic planes flying at extreme altitude in game
- Fixed live traffic planes getting stuck in the center of airports
Peripheral devices
New supported devices:
- Added support for Turtlebeach VelocityOne Flightstick (PC and Xbox)
- Added support for Honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls XPC on PC and Xbox
- Added support for Honeycomb Charlie pedals on PC
- Added support for Pro Flight Trainer Puma X
- Added support for the Thrustmaster TCA Sidestick X (PC and Xbox)
- Added Thrustmaster MFD Cougar support
VR
- Fixed VR panel default opening position
- Toolbar panels opened in VR no longer open when switching to normal mode
- Flight panel window positions are now saved after closing and reopening from the toolbar
- Troubleshooting Rendering Issues Using Tilted Displays
- Fixed Raycast not aligned with cursor in main menu
The complete (and very long) changelog is available on the game forum, at this address.