Weekly Recap

The ongoing public pre-release test for Sim Update 5.1 continues with a new build (1.7.30.0) released last week to those enrolled in the optional beta. You can read the release notes for this build here. We once again kindly ask everyone participating in the public beta test to vote in our surveys and share your general feedback on our forums. Your survey votes and comments are incredibly valuable to us!

Last week we also released Aircraft & Avionics Update 04. This update included MSFS 2024-native versions of five popular aircraft from European manufacturers:

Antonov An-2
ATR 42-600/72-600 (PC/XBOX available now, PS5 coming soon)
Fokker F.VII
Latécoère 631
Savoia-Marchetti S.55/S55x

We are also excited to announce the Carenado Creator Sale on the MSFS 2024 Marketplace! From now until June 11^th @ 10 AM Pacific (1700 UTC), save 30% off these Carenado products:

B390
B55
C172
C182Q
CT210N
F33A

To purchase these discounted items, visit the Microsoft Flight Simulator Marketplace on MSFS 2024, then select Explore the Sale and look for the savings.

Flightsimexpo 2026

Next week is FlightSimExpo 2026 — North America’s largest gathering of flight sim enthusiasts, developers, and product vendors — in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA. For the third time, the Microsoft Flight Simulator team will be in attendance with a large presence on the convention floor (booth #321). As with previous years, we’re thrilled to be collaborating with several hardware vendors including MOZA, MSI, NextLevelRacing, Pimax, and WINCTRL to provide a highly-immersive experience for FSExpo attendees to try MSFS 2024 at our booth. We will be running several challenge stations where attendees can compete to set the daily high score in various landing challenges to win fantastic prizes courtesy of our hardware partners!

Visitors to the Microsoft Flight Simulator booth will also have the opportunity to test their flying skills in the Red Bull Air Race challenge. Pilots can race through the course in virtual reality, experiencing the speed, precision, and low-altitude intensity of competitive air racing from the cockpit perspective.

The VR station will feature a high-end PCVR setup powered by Pimax, allowing attendees to experience the challenge with immersive depth perception, wide field of view, and detailed cockpit visibility. Whether you’re a seasoned flight simmer or trying VR flight simulation for the first time, stop by the Microsoft Flight Simulator booth on Saturday and see how fast you can complete the course!

The two community members who set the top two fastest times before 3pm on Saturday, June 13 will qualify to compete in our first Red Bull Air Race Community vs. Creator Tournament hosted live on the FSElite Stage at 4pm on Saturday! This is your chance to compete for prizes compliments of MOZA and race head-to-head against four popular flight sim content creators from Twitch and YouTube: Blu Games, Moosestaffa, NickFlightX, and Twotonemurphy!

If you want to prepare for the tournament in advance by practicing at home prior to FSExpo, the qualifying round at the MSFS booth will take place on the Abu Dhabi course. The top two challengers who make it to the main tournament on the FSElite Stage will receive an automatic Bye to the semifinal round, where you will once again race on the Abu Dhabi course against one of our Content Creator racers. The final round, for those who make it that far, will take place on the Spielberg course. All races will be run on the Intermediate difficulty setting, and you can toggle on or off any of the race assist options to your personal preference. Good luck to everyone who competes!

To everyone attending FSExpo next week, we wish you all safe travels on your journey to Saint Paul! We look forward to meeting many of you in person. Be sure to stop by our booth to meet our team or say hello to any of the Microsoft Flight Simulator staff (you’ll be able to spot us by our matching shirts) if you see us on the convention floor. We always love meeting passionate simmers and chatting about aviation and flight simulation with you!

Note: there will be no Weekly Briefing blog post next week as the team is attending FSExpo. We’ll be back with our next Weekly Briefing on June 18, 2026.

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 FIFA World Cup, the largest global sporting event, kicks off next week! To celebrate the beautiful game, our flight will begin in Guadalajara, one of Mexico’s host cities for the 2026 World Cup. From there, we’ll make our way to Mexico City where the opening ceremonies and first match of the tournament between Mexico and South Africa will occur on June 11.

Be sure to show your national pride and use a livery representing your country’s colors for this Community Fly-In event!

Optional Marketplace Add-on: Simmers may choose to use the Mexico City Landmarks add-on by developer FLYMEX SOFTWARE. This purchase is entirely optional and is not required to join this fly-in.

See Event Details

Highlights from last week’s Community Fly-In

Last week’s event took place in Italy! Here are some screenshots from the Fly-In:

Screenshot by IceManDBB

Screenshot by Chladic88

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!

Aircraft & Avionics Update 4 (AAU_4) is now available in MSFS 2024, with five aircraft receiving major updates. For this week’s inspiration, go and take one of these five aircraft for a spin and enjoy the upgrades! Pick from the: ATR 42/72-600, Antonov An-2, Latécoère 631, Savoia-Marchetti S.55, or the Fokker F.VII.

Airport of the Day

Today’s Airport of the Day is LSZO! 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 refreshes daily to provide a new spot for simmers to meet and fly.

upcoming Community Events

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

TheFlightDoc is back in his incredible Airbus home cockpit, and heading to Mexico in this latest video. We’re definitely jealous of this setup. Who else would want a full Airbus in their home?!