At least one new single-engine aircraft is launched Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will be “fully customizable.” That’s what Brandon Jaeger says Got friendsone of several third-party developers teaming up with Xbox Game Studios and Asobo Studio to bring the big product to market on November 19. But the complex function is about more than just trendy paint jobs. Instead, the intention is to support one of the fastest growing sports in aviation: competitive short takeoff and landing, also known as STOL.
Tom Wolf is co-founder of National STOLthe largest organization currently hosting STOL competitions here in the United States. He said STOL skills emerged at the dawn of aviation, when pilots used makeshift airfields across the country to introduce air travel to the country. Later, those same skills would be adopted by the military, which often must fly large, fast aircraft from short runways, civilian highways, or even rough, undeveloped terrain. Today, STOL skills are used to bring people and supplies to remote areas of wilderness around the world for hunting, fishing, hiking, skiing, and more.
“It’s very big in Alaska, it’s very big in places like Idaho, Colorado — places where you have to fly somewhere because there are no roads,” Wolf said in a recent interview with Polygon. He explained how what started as crash landings quickly became a competitive pastime, with the first informal STOL competitions started in the 1970s. National STOL, split in 2020is just the natural extension of that. Today, dozens of amateur and professional pilots participate National STOL competitions throughout the countrywith 10 qualifying matches leading to this year’s 2024 finals in Sulfur Springs, Texas, on November 2.
But STOL competitions don’t just take place in the real world, Wolf explained. They happen indoors Microsoft Flight Simulator also through a parallel competitive series called National eSTOL.
“Everything we do in real life (events), we have modeled the landscape Microsoft Flight SimulatorWolf said. “So in real life, if you come to our event in Texas, or to an event somewhere in Moses Lake, Washington, that landscape, that airport looks exactly the same, just like in Microsoft Flight Simulator if you come to one of our events there.”
With the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024the planes will also look the same – including some of the wild modifications that real pilots will often make to their planes to improve STOL performance. Take, for example, something as seemingly trivial as the metal shroud surrounding an airplane’s engine.
“Removing your hood is great for cooling (the engine),” Wolf said. “The cost of it (reduces your overall) cruising speed. It has a hood on it because it makes you go faster. If you turn that off, you go slower. But it increases your cooling, which means you can push your engine harder. It also saves weight, and the less weight means a shorter takeoff or shorter landing.”
These are exactly the tradeoffs that true competitors must make before racing at national STOL events. Now, virtual pilots will be able to make some of those decisions on the same game day. For his part, Wolf hopes the addition of these types of customization options will increase Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 pays off by generating more interest in aviation in general, but also in its digital aspects.
“I started taking flying lessons when I was 12,” Wolf said. “Because of Flight simulatorI would go about a month or two months between classes. My flight instructor looked at me and said, ‘Why are you so good? How do you maintain this level of consistency between classes?’ And I’d say, ‘Look, I’ll do it inside Flight simulator.’ But he wouldn’t believe me because he was middle-aged and didn’t like computers.”
Now, Wolf said, he has middle-aged pilots suddenly interested in computer-based simulation, all because they can practice the skills they need to succeed in regular STOL by participating in eSTOL.
“We’ve had people from eSTOL come to our real events (to volunteer),” Wolf said. “The opposite has (also) happened to us. People came out and sat at our computers and used Tobii’s eye-tracking equipment (…) and said, ‘This is really fun. I’ve never done this before and I want to compete more with you!’ And that’s why they’re doing more eSTOL stuff.
“It’s basically a kind of infinite machine, constantly feeding itself,” he added.
If you would like to participate in National eSTOL, Wolf encourages you to come by the official disagreement for more information.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is scheduled for release on November 19 on Windows PC and Xbox Series
Disclosure: This article is based on a Microsoft Flight Simulator Global Preview Event held at the Grand Canyon on September 10. Xbox Game Studios provided Polygon’s travel and accommodations for the event. Additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy can be found here.
