The next generation of Microsoft Flight Simulator has the entire Earth covered, based on the Bing Maps satellite aerial imagery. This aerial imagery was also used as a help to manually edit the 37,000 airports all over the world. The amount consists of from the small grass field strips to the large international airports. Not every backyard grass airstrip is manually edited but the fields can be found in the Flight Simulator because of the satellite image coverage. 40 most iconic airports were chosen for a closer look and they are more familiarly referred to as the hand-crafted airports. MSFS team created a tool for themselves which helped them to build up every one of the 37,000 airports just based on the satellite image.
The contours of the airport area were marked with the tool as well as the runways, taxiways, aprons, and gates as well as the buildings. Also, the correct surfaces were needed to choose from options like grass, concrete, dirt. Every surface impacts differently on the landing gear and wheels. Runway slopes are based on the official airport chart references. Airports have a dynamic life including moving airport vehicles and ground workers as well as the animated windsock according to wind direction and speed. You can contact the ground crew in a proper ground radio frequency to request a push-back from the gate for example and follow the push-back truck driving for your nose wheel.
Microsoft Flight Simulator will be available for Windows 10 on August 18, 2020, as downloadable worldwide from Microsoft Store and Steam as well as boxed disc-publication from Aerosoft. Prices are for Standard 69.99 EUR, Deluxe 89.99 EUR, and Premium Deluxe 119.99 EUR.
