Start your aviation career anywhere in the world. Gain experience, build your reputation, and earn certifications to gain access to authentic flight operations such as rescue operations, remote cargo operations, aerial firefighting, search and rescue, and more, all the way to a career as a passenger airline pilot. Embark on a truly global aviation adventure with an almost unlimited number of missions across the planet. Compete against other pilots in the all-new Challenge League mode, or hone your skills in dozens of activities, from thrilling rally racing and precision landings to low-altitude challenges and more. Race in the iconic Red Bull Air Races and legendary Reno Air Races, including the new Roswell routes. Become a world photographer and travel across our beautiful planet to capture inspiring natural landscapes, visit famous landmarks, and record these adventures with photos in a travel book. Unique photography challenges will test your creative eye and piloting skills as you try to capture the perfect moment. Advanced simulationAn improved physics system allows you to create more than 10,000 rigid surfaces that allow you to simulate any shape of an aircraft. Soft body physics handles fabrics, ropes, balloons, and more. Improved terrain and water handling further enhances realism. New, high-precision aircraft systems, including electrical, pneumatic, fuel and hydraulic systems, cargo and passenger systems, and avionics systems such as the Universal UNS-1 FMS and Primus Epic 2. Pre-flight inspections and controls further enhance immersion. Plan your flights with an innovative flight planner that supports both IFR and VFR chart layers, IFR charts, route planning, fuel and cargo planning, vertical profile planning, and ETOPS planning. It also provides information about the airport, including weather and NOTAM messages. The flight planner is available natively in the simulator, on mobile devices, or in web browsers, and allows you to plan flights outside of the simulator. Explore a visually stunning model of the EarthExplore our most detailed reconstruction of planet Earth to date. Enhanced digital terrain maps, more than 500 TIN (triangular irregular grid) cities, and more than 100,000 square kilometers of landscape photogrammetry allow for a visually stunning digital twin experience. More than 150 airports, 2,000 glider airports, 10,000 helipads, 2,000 points of interest, and 900 oil platforms have been carefully crafted by hand, while the procedural system generates all 40,000 airports, 80,000 helipads, 1.5 billion buildings, and nearly 3 trillion trees on the planet. Land anywhere and step out of the plane for the first time in Microsoft Flight Simulator to explore 27 highly detailed biomes with hundreds of species of vegetation, dynamically created details including grass, rocks, and flowers - all taking into account seasonal changes. An all-new photometric lighting system renders the world more accurately than ever before, and improved weather features such as new cloud types, auroras, and other weather phenomena provide a fresh and fascinating atmospheric experience. The world comes alive with a wide variety of wildlife in their natural habitats and free-living livestock across the globe. Oceans and waterways are vibrant with worldwide maritime traffic, from large tankers and cargo ships to trawlers, tugboats, and more. A richly diverse, regionally accurate representation of humanity brings airports, aircraft, and passenger cabins to life around the world. Enhanced real-world air traffic fills the skies and airport tarmacs with hundreds of accurately reproduced aircraft models and dozens of officially licensed liveries.