After much anticipation from the community, especially in the past few weeks, Asobo Studio has today released the 40th Anniversary Edition of the Microsoft Flight Simulator, featuring long-awaited helicopter and glider support, accompanied by new aircraft, new sceneries, and weather improvements.
As the name may suggest, the update celebrates 40 years of Microsoft’s Flight Simulator franchise. The first variant of a flight simulator from Microsoft was the Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.0 released in November 1982 for the IBM PC.
The update comes with new helicopters and gliders. The two helicopters featured in the update are the Bell 407 and the Guimbal Cabri G2. When it comes to gliders, we can now relish flying with the LG8-18 and the electric DG1001E Neo.
In addition to those, MSFS’s 40th Anniversary Edition also comes with a high-fidelity freeware Airbus A310 rendition from iniBuilds, a historical Douglas DC-3, or a DHC-2 Beaver from Blackbird Simulations, to name a few from many.
The update also comes with significant technical advancements in flight dynamics and simulation that are necessary for an accurate representation of the two new aircraft types: helicopters and gliders.
In summary, the 40th Anniversary Edition of MSFS comes with:
- 1 true-to-life Airbus A310 airliner
- 2 helicopters and 14 heliports
- 2 gliders and 15 glider airports
- 7 famous historical aircraft including the Hughes H-4 Hercules (also known as the Spruce Goose)
- 4 classic commercial airports
- 24 classic missions from the franchise’s past
The MSFS’s 40th Anniversary Edition also comes with a plethora of minor bug fixes, new controller presets, and other miscellaneous improvements.
In order to update, first make sure you have the most up-to-date launcher, the update should then be prompted automatically upon launching the simulator.
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