Since the launch of Microsoft Flight Simulator (2020) nearly 3 years ago, I’ve done pretty much everything possible in the game which includes landing an F-18 on a mountain top because why not! However, throughout my years of flying, it’s pretty much always been without a wingman. I really do need to make more friends!
One of the greatest features with Microsoft Flight Simulator is that you can play in a multiplayer environment to fly with friends and encounter other players that are flying in the same area as you. So, when I noticed that there was an official Microsoft Flight Simulator Community Fly-In to EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2023, I had to join the group and fly with them!
Normally, I am somewhere on the EAA grounds at AirVenture at this point. However, because I was unable to attend this year, it gave me the opportunity to join the community event and experience exactly what I’ve been missing out on for the past 3 years! Online multiplayer!
The Microsoft Flight Simulator Community Fly-In Friday event to Oshkosh called for players/pilots to fly something vintage or unique in the spirit of EAA AirVenture. I decided I would fly a Boeing 307 Stratoliner that I just recently acquired on the game’s marketplace. Note that I said just recently acquired, meaning I don’t have any hours flying this aircraft…
The timing for the community flight was actually perfect as it allowed me to join during my lunch break. Still, I happened to miss the mass departure from Meigs Field. I wasn’t too worried though about being left behind as the recommended flight speed was meant to remain at around 120kts. With that being the target speed, it was no problem pushing the Stratoliner to catch up with the group!
Well“…I maybe kinda sorta pushed the aircraft a little too hard and picked up too much speed because I somehow got the “overstressed aircraft” message from the game. In other words, as I was catching up and going “too fast”, I damaged the aircraft and had to start over. Alright, there’s no catching up at this point unless I go with something fast…hello, Blue Angels F/A-18 Super Hornet!
As you can imagine, with me now flying the F-18 and the rest of the group going only 120kts, I was able to catch them in no time at all. And let me tell you, once I started to see all these different aircraft flying together in a pack and then join them in flight, it made the entire experience and event that much more exciting to be part of. I immediately had a greater appreciation for what multiplayer can bring to the user experience in Microsoft Flight Simulator. It was just too cool to see all these planes flying together (as you can see from the video above) and knowing that we were all heading to Oshkosh as part of a community event. I have finally fully experienced one of the best features of Microsoft Flight Simulator with multiplayer and I love it!
What also made this fly-in enjoyable is that the announcement for the event mentioned a mod that turns Oshkosh into AirVenture with aircraft sitting all over the grounds. Unfortunately, I installed it to the wrong folder, so it was just a normal Wittman Airport for me upon arrival. However, I did fix it later and had some fun in a DC-3! Check out the video below to see a little bit of AirVenture in Microsoft Flight Simulator!
I will definitely be joining more community events in the future as the experience is just too much fun. Witnessing all the aircraft come together in one location and then to fly in a pack to another airport to complete the journey is awesome. The only thing that’s missing at the end of these virtual fly-ins is the breakfast that usually accompanies the real ones! I need to do that again too one of these days!
Oh yeah, and here’s proof that I landed the F-18 on the side of the mountain. Don’t worry about the end of the video though…
