Microsoft Flight Simulator Sim Update 5 Release (30th April 2026)

Sim Update 5 has landed for Microsoft Flight Simulator, pushing the game to version 1.7.27.0 as of today. The full release notes are available via the official Steam announcement for anyone who wants to dig into the specifics.

If you're on PC, there's one thing to do before you boot up: clear your community folder. Asobo's standing warning applies here, outdated community packages can cause stability problems and bloated loading times, and a major sim update is exactly when that's most likely to bite you. Move anything in there to a separate folder, launch clean, then add mods back one at a time if you want to be safe.

Sim updates for MSFS tend to carry more weight than a typical patch, often touching flight models, weather systems, or core performance. Whether this one is a substantial overhaul or more of a maintenance pass, I'll reserve judgement until I've had time in the cockpit. The complete notes are below.