After 40 years of Microsoft Flight Simulator, flying a plane in a realistic digital setting is more popular and accessible than ever. We sit down with Jorg Neumann, Head of Microsoft Flight Simulator, to discuss the series' past, present, and future.

A snippet.

In addition to improving airports and the impressive World Updates, is the team positioned or looking to expand the experience in other ways with additional content coming in the near (or distant) future?

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Jorg: Gliders and helicopters to the simulator had been the top requests by the flight sim community since launch. But even that is in no way complete. The 40th Anniversary Edition features 14 heliports and 15 glider airports, but that really only scratches the surface. Our research team is currently working hard on establishing a glider airport database as there is nothing like this commercially available. It’s a massive undertaking that includes lots of primary research, and outreach to several thousand glider club organizations across the globe.

We are embarking on something similar for helicopters, and thankfully, the very knowledgeable and passionate community is helping. For example, just last week someone sent a database of heliports in Switzerland. All of this will take a while to complete. But to answer your primary question, yes, we are looking at all kinds of additional content for future expansions as a high-level goal is to create the increasingly accurate digital twin of Earth.

Head Here For Our Big Microsoft Flight Simulator 40th Anniversary Interview