Helicopters, Gliders, and a Billionaire’s Vanity Project Come to Microsoft Flight Simulator Today

Believe it or not, the Microsoft Flight Simulator sequence, first launched in November of 1982, is definitely older than the corporate’s most iconic product: Windows. To have a good time its fortieth anniversary, in the present day the corporate released a free major update to the latest version of Flight Simulator that, amongst different plane, lastly brings helicopters again to the sport.

Microsoft Flight Simulator has benefitted from a couple of main updates this previous yr, together with the Top Gun: Maverick expansion that arrived again in May and let gamers climb into the cockpit of an F-18 fighter and check out their hand on the difficult missions featured within the blockbuster sequel, together with plane service landings and flying to the sting of area within the fictitious hypersonic Darkstar.

Today’s free replace—the largest for the reason that sport’s preliminary launch—was first teased back in August and is one followers have been excited for since 2006, because it marks the return of helicopters and gliders to the long-running sequence. Unless you’re into navy fight, there haven’t actually been loads of nice helicopter simulators accessible for PCs, and practically none for consoles, which is extra a symptom of helicopters being difficult to fly and even tougher to precisely simulate. Assuming most players might be piloting the replace’s new Bell 407 and Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopters utilizing a gamepad (will somebody please launch a very good wi-fi flight stick for the Xbox!) Microsoft has added fairly a couple of assistive settings to Flight Simulator for the brand new plane to assist guarantee novice pilots spend extra time within the air than on the bottom.

In addition to the 2 helicopters, in the present day’s replace brings 10 extra fix-winged plane, together with an extremely detailed and correct Airbus A310-300 and a pair of gliders: the DG Aviation LS8-18 and DG-1001E neo. For these on the lookout for a extra leisurely simulated journey, seven planes of historic observe additionally be part of the sport’s lineup: the 1903 Wright Flyer, a 1915 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny, Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis, a 1935 Douglas DC-3, a 1937 Grumman G-21 Goose, a 1947 Havilland DHC-2 Beaver, and Howard Hughes’ 1947 H-4 Hercules. That final one’s higher often called the Spruce Goose, which was the most important picket plane ever constructed.

The fortieth Anniversary Edition additionally provides 4 airport updates: Hong Kong Kai Tak, Meigs Field in Chicago, Princess Juliana International in Saint Maarten, and the First Flight Airport at Kitty Hawk, the place the Wright Brothers first took to the skies, in addition to new pre-planned flight adventures and extra tutorials and missions for gliders, which require their very own set of abilities for take-off and staying airborne.