RELEASE NOTES 1.21.13.0
New Aircraft We are adding 5 brand new aircraft to Microsoft Flight Simulator:
- Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet: Our first military jet and a highly requested feature from the community. The Top Gun: Maverick expansion will release with the movie next Spring, but we wanted simmers to have the opportunity to be able to test their need for speed this holiday.
- VoloCity: We partnered with well-known German company Volocopter, which is working on an eVTOL called “VoloCity”, a vision for an urban air taxi. We worked closely with the Volocopter engineering team to develop an authentic version of the aircraft for the simulator. This is our first aircraft that can perform pinpoint landings and is a teaser of what you can look forward to in 2022 when we intend to launch helicopters in the sim.
- Pilatus PC-6 Porter: This legendary short takeoff and landing (STOL) utility aircraft is a highly versatile plane from Switzerland, and our close collaboration with the manufacturer and the development efforts by famed developers Hans Hartmann and Alexander Metzger resulted in a great and fun new aircraft with exception capabilities in the simulator.
- CubCrafters NX Cub: Yakima-based CubCrafters recently introduced a nosewheel option for their flagship CC-19 XCub Aircraft, popularly called the NX Cub, which we are pleased to introduce to the flight sim audience to further enhance our bush flying and off airport options.
- Aviat Pitts Special S1S: One of our most popular planes gets a single-seat option with the release of this aircraft.
New Airports
We are adding 8 handcrafted airports in Central Europe and the United States:
- Leipzig/Halle Airport (EDDP)
- Allgäu Airport Memmingen (EDJA)
- Kassel Airport (EDVK)
- Lugano Airport (LSZA)
- Zurich Airport (LSZH)
- Luzern-Beromunster Airport (LSZO)
- Patrick Space Force Base (KCOF)
- Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (KNKX)
The Game of the Year release is adding information about 545 previously missing airports in the United States
New Missions
Based on the popularity of the recently introduced Discovery Flights, we are adding an additional 6 locations (Helsinki, Freiburg im Breisgau, Mecca, Monument Valley, Singapore, and Mount Cook) to this popular series
New Tutorials (produced in partnership with FS Academy)
To further expand the onboarding experience, we are adding 14 new tutorials, introducing simmers to Bush flying (in an Icon A5) and IFR (in a Cessna 172)
New Features
We are also pleased to introduce several highly requested features by the community: an updated weather system, early access to DX12, and a dev mode replay system (more info below)
New Photogrammetry Cities
As part of our ongoing collaboration with Bing Maps, we are pleased to add a number of new photogrammetry cities: Helsinki (Finland), Freiburg in Germany (Germany), Brighton, Derby, Eastbourne, Newcastle, and Nottingham (UK), ), Vers-Pont-Du-Gard, Chambord and Port-Vendres (France) and Utrecht (Netherlands)
to be honest the update was fine for me..took the F-18 Hornet for a spin round the Mach Loop, flys pretty well and looks good but the amount of buttons in the cockpit that are INOP is alarming, guess I’ve been spoilt by the utterly fantastic Hawk that was just released… also just had a few go’s at the Reno air races and it’s a lot more fun than I originally thought it would be..the sim snobs would hate it but the multiplayer and online leaderboards are great fun to challenge, not tried VR yet but this update has been pretty good so far👍
