Weekly Recap

The Sim Update 5 public beta test for Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 began last week! In case you missed it, you can read the release notes for the first test build here. Thank you to everyone who is participating in the beta for your feedback and bug reports. If you do encounter any issues when testing the SU5 beta build, be sure to create a new Bug Report or upvote and contribute to an existing report of the same issue in the appropriate SU5 subcategory of our forums. Also please be sure to vote in our forum surveys at this link.

In other news, today was the regularly monthly navdata update (AIRAC cycle 2602) for both Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. This update additionally included some fixes for a small number of airports in MSFS 2024 only. You can read all the details here.

Finally, to everyone around the world celebrating the Lunar New Year this week, the MSFS team wishes you all good luck and prosperity in the upcoming year!

Check out this week’s NEW and UPDATED releases for both the MSFS (2020) and MSFS 2024 in-sim Marketplaces.

Explore Products

Community Fly-In Friday

The Lunar New Year, a holiday celebrated by billions of people from many different cultures, began this week on February 17!

In the Chinese zodiac, this year is the Year of the Horse. Join us in our celebration of the Year of the Horse with a flight in China ending in Shanghai, home to one of the most spectacular skylines of any city in the world!

See Event Details

Highlights from last week’s Community Fly-In

Last week’s event saw our community visit Paris, the City of Love, to celebrate Valentine’s Day!

“A nice Flyday again. I set the clock to 12 hours past real time and started out at dawn. I flew the XCub with floats today, a plane I flew quite a lot in FS20, but had not yet flown in FS24.” – Orbitbold (Forums)

“Since there was no cruising speed requirement this occasion and usually it would be too slow for fly-ins, it was a good time to dust off the Tri-motor and take it for a spin. I decided to end the flight at Le Bourget as those ESA rockets looked quite interesting.” – TheHunDude (Forums)

Here are some screenshots from the Fly-In:

Screenshot by Orbitbold

Screenshot by UnwiredEddie

Weekly Flight Inspiration

The world is a big place! If you’re looking for ideas about where to fly this week, check out our Community Managers’ recommendation here!

With the Year of the Horse being celebrated around the world this week, why not celebrate the Lunar New Year in your own way by visiting some of the regions that have a public holiday during this time? From China to Indonesia, and many other countries, you’re spoilt for choice!

Airport of the Day

Today’s Airport of the Day is NZMF! Head over there and search for fellow pilots in the sky, and feel free to join our Airport of the Day Voice Chat in Discord anytime! The airport refreshed daily to provide a new spot for simmers to meet and fly.

upcoming Community Events

B.A.R Community Meetup – Dallas: Join the Bravo Alpha Romeo (B.A.R.) community for our first North American in-person meetup, hosted in Dallas at the C.R. Smith Museum, an aviation-focused museum open to the public.

This is a small, relaxed, community-led gathering for flight simulation and aviation enthusiasts to connect in person, share ideas, and spend time around aviation history.

This meetup will include:

A community development briefing / update covering what’s happening across the flight simulation ecosystem
Short Presentation for attendee’s
Time to explore the C.R. Smith Museum at your own pace
A group photo near one of the museum aircraft display
A few fun surprises during the event
Optional plane spotting afterward at Founders Plaza, if open at the time
Optional casual food meetup nearby following the event

RSVP for Dallas Here

B.A.R. Community Meetup – Melbourne: February 25 – Enjoy a cold beverage over aviation and sim chat. Community-run, not an official Microsoft-run event, food and beverages available for purchase.

RSVP for Melbourne Here

Regular Community Fly-Ins: If you’re looking to join in with group flights, or even host your own, the best place to begin is via our dedicated Forum category. With a whole host of groups organising regular events, there’s something for everyone! Find more details here.

Community Video

With many thousands of 3rd party airport choices across the globe, this week’s community video comes from James_Fuller01, who gives a list of his top 16 airport addons for PC players that are all free to use!