Microsoft Flight Simulator: World Update 22 celebrates the beauty of the United States in honor of the nation’s 250th birthday!
The United States of America is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes in the world, including breathtaking mountains, serene coastlines, austere deserts, and lush forests. The nation protects these beautiful natural wonders in world-renowned national parks and national forests like Death Valley National Park, Olympic National Park, Acadia National Park, and Mount Hood National Forest. Microsoft Flight Simulator highlights the magnificence and heritage of America’s famed destinations for pilots in World Update 22, released in conjunction with and in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the country. The update also includes a series of missions for pilots to immerse themselves in the grandeur of these remarkable protected lands.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator team partnered with Bing Places, Vexcel, Gaya, and Asobo to create World Update 22. The 250th anniversary of the United States is a historic milestone, and Microsoft Flight Simulator has created World Update 22 to reflect the country’s beauty. The immense update includes 31 areas of interest (AOIs) rendered using updated photogrammetry, TIN (triangulated irregular network) surface texturing, and digital elevation modeling (DEM). Areas of interest throughout the United States in this update include:
Arches National Park: Located just north of the city of Moab in eastern Utah, this park protects some of the natural world’s most intriguing forms, sandstone arches and related features.
Badlands National Park: Located in South Dakota, this national park features steeply eroded buttes of colorful sediment and vast stretches of prairie.
Big Bend National Park: A massive swath of southwestern Texas wilderness characterized by rugged mountains, windswept plains, and airy solitude is protected by this park.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park: Located in western Colorado, this area protects the deep, steeply incised Black Canyon of the Gunnison River, a landscape defined by ancient dark Precambrian rock.
Bryce Canyon National Park: One of the gems of southern Utah, it features a stunningly beautiful high natural amphitheater of stone spires, multi-colored cliffs, meadows, and stands of forest.
Canyon de Chelly National Monument: Located on Navajo tribal lands in northeastern Arizona, it features ancient cliff ruins, prehistoric rock art, cliffs, and dramatic spires.
Canyonlands National Park: Located in southeastern Utah, this area is defined by sweeping vistas of bare rock, soaring towers, and the Colorado and Green Rivers that course through this wilderness of stone.
Capitol Reef National Park: Located in south-central Utah, visitors can find some of America’s most beautiful desert landscapes including sheer cliffs, towers, and natural arches.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park: Located in southeastern New Mexico’s Chihuahuan Desert, there are a diverse array of caves amid a beautiful desert landscape.
Crater Lake National Park: Located in south-central Oregon, visitors can find one of the world’s most fascinating landscapes, Mount Mazama and Crater Lake within its caldera.
Death Valley National Park: An enormous, multifaceted desert wilderness in eastern California and adjacent Nevada.
Grand Teton National Park: Located in northwestern Wyoming, the steep, dramatic Grand Tetons and some of the world’s most spectacular mountains serve as a stunning backdrop including parts of Jackson Hole.
Great Basin National Park: Located in eastern Nevada near the border with Utah, the park protects high mountains, stands of ancient bristlecone pines, and several species of wildlife.
Great Sand Dunes National Park: Located in south-central Colorado, visitors will find one of the natural world’s most distinctive wonders: a massive dune field pressed against the Rocky Mountains, the world’s largest alpine valley.
Guadalupe Mountains National Park: Located in in west Texas, just south of the New Mexico border, Guadalupe Mountain National Park features the state’s highest mountain, Guadalupe Peak, extensive grasslands, and wildlife.
Joshua Tree National Park: Located in the desert region of southern California, it features a vast region of evocative boulders, peaks, and its namesake, the iconic Joshua Tree.
Kings Canyon National Park: Located in California’s southern Sierra Nevada mountains, this park encompasses some of the most beautiful high mountain wilderness in the United States, including soaring granite peaks, deep glacially carved valleys, rushing rivers, and high alpine lakes.
Lassen Volcanic National Park: Home to several hydrothermal sites, cinder cones, and its highest point, Lassen Peak, this park in northern California also features a dormant active volcano.
Mesa Verde National Park: Located in the southwest corner of Colorado, it preserves the largest collection of archaeological sites in the United States and the stunning wilderness surrounding them.
Mount Hood National Forest: Located in north-central Oregon, this forest features extensive stands of Pacific Northwest Forest, Mount Hood, Oregon’s highest point and one of the Cascade Range’s most notable volcanic peaks.
North Cascades National Park: Located in northern Washington state, this park protects the heart of the North Cascade Range, defined by rugged and heavily glaciated alpine landscapes.
Olympic National Park: Located on the Olympic Peninsula of northwestern Washington State, featuring a massive wilderness of glaciated peaks, temperate rainforest, and rugged coastline.
Petrified Forest National Park: Located in northeastern Arizona, with the Painted Desert, ancient ruins and rock art capturing visitors’ attention, and the Rainbow Forest, an extensive collection of petrified wood.
Pinnacles National Park: Protects a unique landscape in California’s Coast Ranges comprising an extinct volcano moved by actions of the San Andreas Fault.
Redwood National Park: Located in northern California along the Pacific coastline, featuring the Coast Redwood, the tallest tree species on Earth.
Rocky Mountain National Park: Located northwest of Denver, Colorado, visitors will find some of the most beautiful and captivating alpine wilderness found anywhere on the planet.
Saguaro National Park: Located in southern Arizona, it protects extensive stands of the Saguaro Cactus, iconic of the Desert Southwest, and a beautiful surrounding desert landscape.
Sequoia National Park: Located in California’s southern Sierra Nevada mountains, this park protects stands of giant sequoia trees, the largest living species on Earth.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park: Located in western North Dakota, it is a paradise of meandering rivers, extensive grasslands, and broad mesas.
Wind Cave National Park: Located in southwestern South Dakota, the park features extensive rolling prairie roamed by large herd of free-roaming American bison.
Zion National Park: Located in southwestern Utah, the park protects a unique region defined by sandstone cliffs, desert monoliths, rivers, and lush stands of forest.
Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 22: United States National Parks also includes 46 of points of interest (POIs), including visitor centers, lodges, lookouts, resorts, and spectacular natural wonders like Shiprock in northwestern New Mexico, the Totem Pole in Arizona, and Delicate Arch in Utah, among many others along with three guided tours and nine discovery flights.
Guided Tours
The guided tour is a new mission type debuting in this release that provides detailed narratives of locations while Microsoft Flight Simulator pilots explore the areas.
- Bryce Canyon National Park: Take to the skies above one of Utah’s famed national parks in an Airbus Helicopters H125 helicopter in this Microsoft Flight Simulator Guided Tour. Your tour guide will help you navigate to some of the park’s most spectacular sights like Sunrise Point and Pink Cliffs while explaining the natural and human history of this spectacular area.
- Grand Canyon National Park: This Microsoft Flight Simulator Guided Tour begins on the South Rim of Arizona’s Grand Canyon of the Colorado River and explores some of the most stunning features that have made this such a renowned destination, including The Dragon, Point Imperial, and Buddha Temple. Your tour guide provides background on natural history, human history, and gives insight on specific points of interest while you explore the Grand Canyon in a Draco X.
- Grand Teton National Park: Explore the stunning Grand Teton mountains and Jackson Hole region of northwestern Wyoming in a Diamond Aircraft DA62 in this Microsoft Flight Simulator Guided Tour. The itinerary starts in Jackson Hole and winds up Moran Canyon to the Cathedral Group, which comprises the highest peaks of the area, including Grand Teton. Your tour guide will provide you with intriguing facts about the area’s natural and human history as you soar above some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the world. The Grand Teton Guided Tour includes a beautifully handcrafted rendition of Jackson Hole Airport (KJAC) by Microsoft Flight Simulator’s long-term partner, Gaya.
Discovery Flights
- Acadia National Park: Located on Mount Desert Island and surrounding lands of the middle coast of Maine, this park protects a unique mountain and coastal environment.
- Arches National Park: Located just north of the city of Moab in eastern Utah, visitors will find some of the natural world’s most intriguing forms, natural sandstone arches, spires, and balancing rocks.
- Crater Lake National Park: Oregon’s famous national park protects one of the world’s most intriguing creations, Mount Mazama, and the lake within its caldera, Crater Lake.
- Dry Tortugas National Park: Located 70 miles west-northwest of Key West, Florida, is one of America’s smallest, least visited, and most intriguing national parks.
- Everglades National Park: Located on the southern tip of the Florida Peninsula, is a paradise of wetlands, coastline, and wildlife.
- Great Smoky Mountains National Park: Located along the border of the U.S. states of Tennessee and North Carolina, featuring the central portion of the Great Smoky Mountains, a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains.
- Olympic National Park: Located on the Olympic Peninsula of northwestern Washington State, with a massive wilderness of glaciated peaks, temperate rainforest, and rugged coastline.
- Zion National Park: Located in southwestern Utah and protecting a unique region defined by sandstone cliffs, desert monoliths, rivers, and lush stands of forest.
Microsoft Flight Simulator World Update 22: United States National Parks is FREE to all owners of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. Ensure that your simulator is updated to the latest version, download World Update 22, and celebrate the magnificence of the United States. The sky is calling!
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