Microsoft Flight Simulator Update VII Australia Goes Live, Local Legend #2 Released

There are no surprises comparing last week’s livestream that revealed a lot of information about Australia update, but for those who haven’t read our previous post, here is a quick rundown of all the new features coming in Update VII.

Helped by Melbourne-based company OrbX, developer Asobo added four handcrafted airports and high-resolution detail to over 100 others. Furthermore, the update includes 94 custom crafted POIs (points of interest), as well as 16 new activities, including five bush trips, six discovery flights, and five landing challenges.

Also, expect updated elevation data, aerial imagery, and updated water mask across various locations across Australia. More importantly, developers have added more than 500 missing airports in the game, including 54 for Australia.

Thanks to the optional world update content available via the in-game marketplace, Microsoft Flight Simulator players can get the following Photogrammetry Cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth, Cairns, Darwin, Townsville, Mackay, and Bunbury. The following handcrafted airports are now available in the game: YLRE – Longreach, YMBT – Mount Beauty Airport, YPBO – Paraburdoo, and YSHL – Shellharbour Airport.

Five new bush trips (Tasmania, Southeastern Australia, Sea to Desert, Great Barrier Reef, and Northwestern Kimberly Coast), five landing challenges (Brisbane, Shellharbour, Mt Hotham, Katoomba, and Mabuiag), as well as six discovery flights (Gold Coast, Sydney, Perth, Darwin, Melbourne, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park) can be tackled after applying the update.

There’s also an additional mission, “With the Fokker VII from England to Karachi,” which was planned for Update VII Australia, for the series “Local legend of the Fokker,” but for various reasons was not included in the official update. You must download it separately, but keep in mind that it requires the Fokker F.VII addon available in the Microsoft Flight Simulator marketplace.

Speaking of Local Legend, many fans of the flight sim have been waiting for a brand-new aircraft from Microsoft and Asobo, and while we already know its name, here are a couple of interesting facts about the Fokker F.VII.

First off, this plane has been manufactured by Dutch company Fokker in the 1920s. It was famous for its endurance, reliability, power, and load-carrying ability. It first took flight in 1924 and was introduced to the public one year later.

Although the Fokker F.VII was initially designed as a single-engine airplane, the high-wing F.VII was manufactured primarily as a tri-motor, powered by three 9-cylinder Wright J-6 Whirlwind radial engines that provide around 300 horsepower each. The aircraft has a range of 750 miles (1,207 km), a cruise speed of 111 mph (179kph), and a takeoff and landing run of just under 750 feet (229 m).

The Fokker F.VII has enough space to carry up to 8 passengers, a total of nearly 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) of cargo, or a combination of the two.

The Local Legend Fokker F.VII bundle includes several versions of the plane and liveries. The famous Southern Cross, aka Fokker F.VIIb/3m, was used in the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean by air by Charles Kingsford Smith between May 31 and June 9, 1928.

The Friendship variant that crossed the Atlantic Ocean in June of 1928 with famed aviator Amelia Earhart as a passenger is also part of the bundle. Then, we have the Josephine Ford model flown by Richard Evelyn Byrd on his expedition to the North Pole on May 9, 1926.

Furthermore, the Fokker F.VIIa is a single-engine monoplane and one of the world’s first transport aircraft. The plane could carry up to 8 passengers or up to 1,750 pounds of cargo.

The Fokker F.VII has been the centerpiece of the Dutch airline KLM during its first years, so to emphasize the importance of the aircraft for the said airline company, the Local Legend bundle will include a blue KLM livery. Additionally, to celebrate the accomplishments of some of the most famous aviators of the 1920s, included in the bundle are also the historic missions of the Southern Cross, Josephine Ford, and Friendship.

As far as the price goes, the Fokker F.VII bundle is available today on the Microsoft Flight Simulator in-game marketplace for just $15.