Microsoft Flight Simulator official artwork and logo

[Update #2]: The Microsoft Flight Simulator series is celebrating its 40th anniversary this November alongside a big update that will add helicopters, gliders and more!

[Update]: Microsoft Flight Simulator update has now fleshed out Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra.

Ever since launch Microsoft Flight Simulator has been releasing frequent updates aimed at fleshing out certain regions and countries. The most recent one arrived in June with new details for 100 airports in the Nordic region, 77 new points of interest to explore, as well as a whole host of terrain updates to make the virtual version of the world as close to the real one as possible.

While all of these are certainly welcome updates, actually getting to examine and appreciate the additions in-game can be quite tricky as planes aren't exactly known for being able to stop and go at a moment's notice. Helicopters are, however, which is why I'm very happy to say that the developers have heard the thousands of requests and are currently looking to add them as a part of a major update!

I would love to tell you more about how the helicopters will work, but the unfortunate truth is that we currently know nothing besides the planned release date being 2022. The reason this is the case is that Microsoft hasn't even released a full announcement just yet. Instead, helicopters are only mentioned on the "Top Wishes" part of the roadmap where they are marked as planned, while gliders and sailplanes are already in the works.

Given the lack of a concrete release date, and the simple fact that they are still not in active development, chances are good that we'll have to wait for quite a while in order to start flying around in helicopters. On the positive side, the roadmap is absolutely packed with new content and planned updates, so we should have plenty of stuff to keep us busy while we wait.

Once the full announcement goes live I'll make sure to let you know. Until then you can learn more about Microsoft Flight Simulator's future over at the official website.