Microsoft Flight Simulator celebrates 40th Anniversary with a huge update

The Spirit of St. Louis is an iconic aircraft that made the first non-stop transatlantic flight. The plane was piloted by Charles Lindbergh and took off from Long Island, New York, and landed in Paris, France. The voyage took over 33 hours to complete.

The Hughes H-4 Hercules nicknamed 'Spruce Goose' was built as a transport aircraft for the US War Department. Designed and built by Howard Hughes and Hughes Aviation, the massive plane was built mostly with wood. The plane is one of the largest aircraft ever built and is even larger than the renowned Antonov AN 225.

Also added to Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 are the Douglas DC-3, De Havilland Canada DHC-2-Beaver, Curtiss JN-4 "Canuck", and Grumman G-21 Goose. The Douglas DC-3 made a lasting impact on the commercial aviation we know today.

The massive update adds the Bell-407 and Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopters as well as the DG Flugzeugbau LG8-18 and DG Flugzeugbau DG1001E Neo gliders. There is also an authentic recreation of the Airbus A310 included in the update.

The anniversary update also adds fourteen heliports, fifteen glider airports, and four classic commercial airports to the game. Twenty-four new classic missions from past versions of the flight simulator have been added to the game.

The Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 40th Anniversary update is now available for download from the in-game content manager. The update is free for all Flight Sim 2020 owners on PC and Xbox Series X/S. The flight simulator is included in the Xbox Game Pass for those who want to try it out.

The full patch notes can be found here.