Microsoft has released the 40th Anniversary Edition Update for Microsoft Flight Simulator. According to the release notes, this patch adds new free content to the game, as well as support for NVIDIA’s DLSS 3 tech.

Going into more details, this update adds 1 true-to-life Airbus A310 airliner, 2 helicopters and 14 heliports. It also brings 2 gliders and 15 glider airports, as well as 7 famous historical aircraft including the Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the Spruce Goose). Players can also expect 4 classic commercial airports, and 24 classic missions from the franchise’s past.

It’s also worth noting that MS has implemented a new memory defragmentation system for DX12 to limit maxed out VRAM. The game also now supports AMD’s FSR 2 upscaling technique.

As always, Microsoft store and Steam will download this patch the next time you launch their clients. Below you can also find its complete changelog.

Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Edition Update Release Notes

NEW CONTENT

•  7 classic aircraft:
  • 1903 Wright Flyer
  • 1915 Curtiss JN-4 Jenny
  • 1927 Ryan NYP Spirit of St. Louis
  • 1935 Douglas 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 sailplanes/gliders:
  • DG Aviation LS8-18
  • DG-1001E neo
•  1 true-to-life airliner:
  • Airbus A310-300
•  4 iconic 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:
  1. First Flight at Kitty Hawk
  2. San Juan Island Run
  3. 1st US Airmail Route, 1918
  4. Aleutian Cargo Run
  5. Grand Canyon Scenic Tour
  6. Transcontinental Speed Record
  7. The Hell Stretch, 1918
  8. Charles Lindbergh, New York to Paris
  9. Hawai’ian Vacation
  10. Flying blind across the channel
  11. Meigs Field
  12. Spruce Goose
  13. Rome-Naples Airline Run
  14. Sitka Approach
  15. Monsoon
  16. Caribbean Landing
  17. Hong Kong at Dusk
  18. Waimea Canyon
  19. Mount Rushmore
  20. Miami by Moonlight
  21. San Francisco Sunset
  22. Mendenhall Glacier Tour
  23. 1950: Frontier Airlines
  24. Alaskan Floatplane Pilot
•  7 new tutorial missions for Gliders:
  • Aerotow
  • Winch Launch Training
  • Winch Launch Training, Advanced
  • Basic Handling
  • Slipping Approach and Landing
  • Thermal Identification
  • Ridge Soaring

NEW FEATURES

•  Live traffic has been updated with various quality of life fixes (details below)
•  New memory defragmentation system has been implemented for DX12 to limit maxed out VRAM
•  New Dpad / keyboard arrows navigation accessibility feature is enabled by default in the menus (alternative to the cursor)
•  AMD FSR2 graphic option is now available for PC
•  Title 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 DLSS modes Super Resolution: Auto and DLAA
•  Improved atmospheric simulation with a big focus on Thermals and general tweaks for the CFD
•  We added a new CFD airflow display visualization in game for aircraft that are CFD-enabled (accessible under assistances and can be mapped to a button/key)
•  3D thermals visualization can be toggled via the weather panel
•  New mapping for the Back to fly feature, including height gain depending on the plane situation and current altitude (below 1000ft, 5000ft and 10 000ft), allowing to quickly adjust your flight in a variety of contexts. Very useful during glider runs if you do not wish to restart the flight after having landed

GENERAL BUG FIXES

•  Several crashes have been fixed across the title
•  Ongoing performance optimization work including cursor improvements in the world map
•  Fixed graphical artefacts on cockpit screens when using DX12
•  Fixed broken rendering of rainbows
•  Center of Gravity (CG) is no longer shown outside of limits when there is a lateral imbalance
•  Fixed Toggling Landing / VFR / Copilot View commands that were not functional
•  Fixed aircraft flying erratically into the air when there are no wheels defined at all in the flight_model.cfg file
•  Fixed an off-by-one error on fuel junction settings when loading FLT files of SimObjects
•  Display state of combustion in engine added in debug window
•  HDR10 is now properly applied when launching the title in fullscreen mode on PC
•  Improved transparent UI readability on HDR screens
•  Fixed a scenario when road traffic disappeared when multi-monitor is active
•  Various fixes and improvements for the screen reader accessibility feature

NAVIGATION/TRAFFIC

•  Copilot will no longer request push back service when it is only managing ATC communications
•  Fixed a scenario when some ILS were misaligned ; some missing procedures are now in the sim
•  Fixed an issue with ATC being on the wrong airport when having a VFR flight plan and landing at another airport
•  ATC UI is now enabled with COM Radio for planes lacking Nav radios
•  Live traffic planes no longer turn 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 worldmap
•  We are now using the flightplan to interpolate position of live traffic planes
•  Fixed live traffic cruise altitude
•  Wind direction information is applied before selecting the runway for live traffic
•  Fixed an issue where loading navdata packages with BGL navdata deletion flags could cause ident search and other navdata lookup failures
•  Fixed an issue where an overriding package containing navdata loading the same facility ICAO as an earlier loaded package would be unable to change the QMID of the facility and would receive “facility in a different QMID than the ICAO index list thinks” error
•  Fixed wrong callsign used by ATC for live traffic planes
•  Fixed live traffic planes cruising at extreme altitude in game
•  Fixed live traffic planes getting stuck at the center of the airports

WEATHER

•  Added Metar interpolation every 10 minutes to avoid haze apparitions being too abrupt
•  Better handling of Metars in areas where there is a lot of available Metars
•  Proper temporal fading over 1 min when new data arrives
•  The clear sky preset is now cleared of all clouds
•  The sun disc is no longer visible through thick clouds (does not affect overall lighting conditions)

ACTIVITY

•  Auto refuel at the end of the leg is no longer activated by default across all existing bush trips (can be set via RefuelOnLegStart)
•  “Wing Commander” achievement can now be unlocked passing 1000 flight hours

PLANES

GENERAL

•  Fixed an issue that would cause Morse sound not to work properly on some planes
•  Fixed an issue on the VNAV button that caused it to not properly sync when present on 2 glasscockpits on the same plane
•  Fixed some scenarios where we could have camera glitch when flying under bridges
•  Fixed a scenario where clicking and manually dragging the zoom slider does not change the zoom level in all Camera options (Cockpit, External, and Showcase)
•  Added RotorIndex & default RTPC for Rotor sounds
•  Unable to set NAVX_SOUND for NAV3 & NAV4
•  Added a parameter to prevent the template ASOBO_HANDLING_RudderTrim_Template from being disabled when AP is enabled
•  Added the PctPressurePerPump parameter to the Modular Fuelsystem’s manual pump to allow it to only provide part of the maximum amount of pressure
•  Added Electric Engines
•  Fixed reverse PITCH_INCREMENT on VS knob on some aircraft
•  Added the KEY_SPOILERS_INC/KEY_SPOILERS_DEC keys that give incremental control of the spoiler lever
•  Added  KEY_PROP_LOCK_SET/TOGGLE/ON/OFF which can be called to lock the propeller in position while it is at low speed. Matches with the simvar SIMVAR_PROP_LOCK
•  Added keys that were present in ADF1 to ADF2
•  Added an option to the modular FuelSystem that allows fueltank to generate their own pressure
•  Fixed an issue that would cause the ASOBO_HANDLING_Spoilers_Template template to incorrectly interpret a value in percent as if it was in degrees
•  Fixed a scenario where setting an aircraft’s wheel to have 0 compression or radius may cause a crash
•  Fixed the SIMVAR_PLANE_TOUCHDOWN simvars to ensure they work for water landings
•  Fixed the behavior of KEY_MIXTURE_SET_BEST to ensure it more accurately sets the best mixture
•  Fuel no longer resets to 0 unless set with slider in weight & Balance
•  Cruise Altitude can now be edited if SimConnect calls flightSave
•  Added the keys that were present only for Nav1/2 to Nav3/4
•  Corrected the template ASOBO_INSTRUMENT_Needle_Altimeter_SubTemplate to allow for the unit used to be overriden
•  Added the INTERCEPT_INTERACTIONS param to the ASOBO_GT_Material_Emissive_Code template to ensure any screen can easily intercept clicks to prevent them from interacting with elements beind the screen
•  Icing slider no longer affects aircraft body and windows when icing is deactivated from the assistance menu
•  Filled up debug variables for cylinder friction and torque for piston engine
•  Smoothed ground normal and ground position in CFD simulation to make ground effect smoother
•  Thermals simulation now simulates ground slope orientation. Sun exposed slopes receive more heat
•  Ground effect in CFD simulation now accounts for objects, helipads, rooftops…
•  CFD simulation now support sloped ground surfaces adjusting ground effect automatically to the sloped surface
•  New system to choose the reset mode for PIDs. Applied to pitch & roll on the Cessna 172
•  Improved ground heat based thermals for a better balance of up and downdrafts
•  Fixed an issue where having multiple active Bing Map graphics could cause a CTD while getting elevation data under high load

G1000 NXI

•  Fixes GPS SimVar ‘GPS WP DISTANCE’ showing 0 when in a random Direct To
•  Corrected label on the Departure page that said “Arrival”
•  Fixed issue with VNAV PATH arming while ALT CAP autopilot mode is active
•  Fixed incorrectly highlighted areas during Checklist evaluation

CESSNA 172 SKYHAWK G1000

•  Added new system to choose the reset mode for PIDs. Applied to pitch & roll
•  The stall speed was 10 kts slower than what it should have been

DARKSTAR

•  Improved cockpit lighting and wear and tear

BEECHCRAFT KING AIR 350I

•  Fixed a visual issue with the behavior of the AP/Disc bar

FLIGHT DESIGN CTLS

•  Fixed the negative flaps settings

WORLD

•  Fixed an elevation hole in Spain between LEAD and LEMB
•  Fixed car size and changed car density for low settings on parkings

AIRPORT

•  Fixed trees in path to Runway 10 at TFFJ
•  AFB has old name and is now KCOF Patrick SFB
•  Fixed terrain spikes between N47 and O03
•  Fixed a scenario where cars go across taxiways at KMCO
•  Fixed elevation issues on terrain around CAJ3 airport
•  Changed ICAO for Caselnuovo Don Bosco airport to LILF
•  Fixed terrain issues in north-west of General Santos
•  Fixed missed buildings at MMMX
•  Fixed beacon on runway 9TE6
•  Fixed beacon on runway at 57D
•  Fixed scenarios where jetway update were too slow
•  Fixed Lod issue at KDEN
•  Fixed building issue at LEMD
•  Fixed terminals 2 and 5 at EGLL
•  Removed building on taxiway at EHAM
•  Fixed YCOP name and location
•  Fixed some wrong airport codes in Papua New Guinea
•  Fixed road vehicles appearing on KLAX runways

PERIPHERALS

New supported devices:

•  Added Turtlebeach VelocityOne Flightstick support (PC & Xbox)
•  Added Honeycomb Alpha Flight Controls XPC support on PC & Xbox
•  Added Honeycomb Charlie pedals support on PC
•  Added Pro Flight Trainer Puma X support
•  Added Thrustmaster TCA Sidestick X support (PC & Xbox)
•  Added Thrustmaster MFD Cougar support

NEW PRESETS

•  Added dedicated Helicopter gamepad preset
•  Added dedicated Glider gamepad preset
•  Added a dedicated Thrustmaster T16000M helicopter preset
•  Added a dedicated Thrustmaster TCA Flightstick X helicopter preset
•  Added a dedicated Thrustmaster T.A320 helicopter preset
•  Added a dedicated Thrustmaster HOTAS One helicopter preset (Xbox)
•  Added a dedicated Turtlebeach VelocityOne Flightsitck helicopter preset (Xbox)
•  Added a dedicated Logitech Extreme 3D Pro helicopter preset

NEW CONTROLS

•  Added dedicated Helicopter inputs
•  Added an input to trigger the Back to Fly feature
•  Added digital inputs to increase & decrease the spoiler
•  Added an input to toggle the water ballast
•  Added an input to release the tow plane while in a glider
•  Added plasma control inputs
•  Added mac ready setting inputs
•  Added an input to toggle the CFD
•  Added an input to toggle the Thermals display
•  Added an input to toggle on or off the variometer sound
•  Added some missing ADF2 inputs

VARIOUS PERIPHERAL FIXES

•  Devmode inputs are now remappable and localized
•  Fixed a bug where it was impossible to zoom the VFR map while using the the drone camera
•  Fixed a bug that was toggling the landing gear while browsing fixed cameras

VR

•  Fixed VR default panel opening position
•  Toolbar panels opened in VR are no longer open when switching to normal mode
•  Flight panel windows positions are now saved after closing and reopening from the toolbar
•  Fixing rendering issues using canted displays
•   Fixed Raycast not aligned with cursor in main menu

John Papadopoulos

John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
Contact: Email