2024 Version Launches New, Customizable Aircraft

Microsoft Flight Simulator developers have confirmed that the 2024 launch will include several updates to the virtual short takeoff and landing (eSTOL) world. This features at least one new single-engine aircraft with a “completely customizable” design.

STOL competitions first sprung to the stage in 2020 with the National STOL series. Amateur and professional pilots participate in nationwide events, including 10 qualifying matches, each year. The next competition this year will be held at Music City Executive Airport (XNX) in Gallatin, Tennessee, before moving to the 2024 Finals in Sulphur Springs, Texas.

These skills have several other applications, including the transportation of people and supplies into remote wilderness areas.

Now, with the ever-growing trend of virtual aviation, STOL competitions have been given their own digital platform.

“Everything that we do in our real-life [events], we’ve modeled the scenery into Microsoft Flight Simulator,” stated Tom Wolf, the co-founder of National STOL. “So if you pull up to our event in real life in Texas, or pull up to an event somewhere in Moses Lake, Washington, that scenery, that airport looks exactly the same, like it does in Microsoft Flight Simulator when you come to one of our events there.”

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be receiving a massive eSTOL showcase. Users will be able to give their virtual fleet the same crazy modifications that STOL competitors do, with available customizations as minor as removing the engine cowling before showtime. The version is also adding the 1,000-horsepower Draco X: a legend in both bush flying and STOL.

Wolf hopes that these features will continue to expand interest in both real-world and digital general aviation.

“We’ve had people from eSTOL come to our real-world events [to volunteer],” Wolf continued. “We’ve had the opposite happen [too]. People came out, sat down at our computers, and they used the Tobii eye-tracking equipment… and they’re like, ‘This is really fun. I’ve never done this before, and I want to compete with you guys more!’ And they’re doing more eSTOL stuff because of that.”

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is slated for release on November 19 for Windows PC and Xbox Series X.

FMI: www.flightsimulator.com, www.nationalstol.com