However, sticking to short flight plans early on will allow you to practise all of the elements of flying a lot quicker. Perhaps it is to see the wilderness of the African plains, or a cross-country flight over Egypt to see the Valley of the Kings and the Giza Pyramid Complex. Once you begin jumping into the world map, you may be tempted to take a long-haul sightseeing trip. This is done in a similar manner to the taxi ribbon but with the airport’s tower you are looking to land at. To make the landing guides appear, you will need to contact ATC once again to get landing clearance.

Perfect for preventing you from overshooting the runway or plopping into the water beforehand. A series of squares will help you maintain the correct altitude, speed, and pattern. The landing guide will appear as you make your approach onto a runway to land. The taxi ribbon also pairs with another handy feature.

Simply select the tower for the airport you are at and select the option to request taxi clearance. You can do this by accessing the ATC panel on the toolbar at the top of the screen. In order for the taxi ribbon to appear, you first need to request clearance to taxi from ATC. If you have already started your flight plan then you can also access it from the toolbar at the top of the screen. You can enable the taxi ribbon in the options on the main menu, located under Assistance then Navigation Aids. To make life easier, you can enable a taxi ribbon which will show you the taxi route to take. While that is all fine and dandy the multiple crossing taxi paths and routes can be overbearing. This means you will have to taxi onto the runway before taking off. However, you can change the option so that you begin in a parking spot or at a gate. When you draw out a flight plan in the world map, the game will default you to starting on a runway. Meaning you will be just that slightly less confused when the Air Traffic Control (ATC) starts spitting numbers and letters at you. As well as the fundamentals of handling an aircraft, you will also get to know some aviation terminology and processes such as landing patterns. Playing through the tutorials will give you a good base for getting to grips with flying. The same does not quite ring true for Microsoft Flight Simulator. Optional tutorials can often be skipped in games without feeling like you are in over your head.

So here are ten tips to help you acclimatize to these flying machines quicker. The sheer number of options, values, and gauges to handle can be quite intimidating for newcomers.

While most flying in games consist of slamming the throttle on and going hellbent for leather, Microsoft Flight Simulator requires just a tad more care and precision. Microsoft Flight Simulator has finally taken to the skies on Xbox Series X|S.

Flight simulator x tutorials