Overview
- Estimated achievement difficulty: 7/10
- Offline: 30/32 (955)
- Online: 2/32 (45)
- Approximate amount of time to 1000: 20- 30 hours (50 different days for "Pentacontacache")
- Minimum number of playthroughs needed: 1
- Number of missable achievements: None
- Do cheat codes disable achievements?: No Cheats
- Does difficulty affect achievements?: No
- Glitchy achievements: None
- Unobtainable achievements: None
- Extra equipment needed?: No, but having a joystick or Xbox 360 controller may be useful

Minimum Hardware:
CPU: Dual Core 2.0 GHz
GPU: 256 MB card capable of shader 3.0 (DX 9.0c compliant)
HD: 10 GB hard drive space
OS : WinXP SP3 or newer
RAM: 2.0GB
Recommended Hardware:
CPU: Dual Core 3.0 GHz
GPU: 1024 MB ATI Radeon HD 5670 or 1024 MB NVIDIA GEFORCE 9800 GT or equivalent
HD: 30 GB hard drive space
OS : Win7 SP1 64-bit operating system
RAM: 6.0GB
 
Welcome to Microsoft Flight, the successor to the Microsoft Flight simulator series and the newest in its free to play line. While the free portion of the game includes two aircrafst and the main island of Hawaii, the rest of the game requires people to pay for the DLC content which currently includes all of the other main Hawaiian islands, Alaska and several aircraft with DLC added on a monthly basis.

Your first step in the game will be learning to fly an aircraft which will earn you the "Fledgling Career" achievement and allow you to progress further into the game, hence it cannot be skipped.

Once you are in free mode and are allowed to do whatever you please, it is recommended that the first achievement you get working on is "Pentacontacache" as this requires you to collect the Aerocache of the day on 50 different days. Also, before purchasing any DLC, you will need to head to the hanger and download a free preview of an aircraft.

Thereafter, the game can really be played in whatever order you want. If you do not plan on buying any DLC, then it is mostly miscellaneous achievements you will need with the exception of "Stearman Landing Master". If you have purchased DLC, I first recommend completing the main missions as these will teach you advanced aircraft maneuvers and how to fly different aircraft. After that, you should complete the miscellaneous achievements (for instance the ones requiring you to do jobs, finding the Aerocaches and landing at each ad every airport).

Finally, you will have to complete the challenges to gold. the challenges at the best of times can be quite tricky but the tip is to keep repeating them over and over again until you get the hang of it.

As far as settings for the game, you will want increased stability turned on. With the exception of the "Inverted", "Dizzy" and "Aerobat" achievements, this will make the game much easier. For the challenges, it is recommended that you have your settings turned to the best. Your PC will comfortably run the game at as it will make spotting the centre of runways easier. However, you should also have scenery density turned down to low as this will remove objects such as trees which you could crash into and can give you better angles of approach. Once you have done all of those, you should have 1,000 gamer points.

[x360a would like to thank Caramel Cardinal for this Roadmap]

Microsoft Flight Achievement Guide

Printable Guide
Show completed achievements
Show secret achievements

There are 38 achievements with a total of 1275 points

  • Complete Tutorial 1: Flight Essentials.

    When you first sign into the game, it will take you into the tutorial where it will teach you how to fly a plane. Simply complete this and the achievement is yours.
    Note: This achievement can glitch, i.e it says it has unlocked but when you check your gamercard outside of the game it is still locked. For a potential fix for this go here.

  • 1st catastrophic crash.

    When you are in the air, simply point the aircraft straight towards the ground and you'll crash. Chances are you will unlock this with normal progression.

  • Download an aircraft preview from the hangar.

    Before you download any DLC, go to the hanger. There it will have several planes including all the ones available from DLC. Click on one of the planes currently unavailable to you, then select download free preview. Once the download finishes, the achievement will unlock.

  • Find any 5 Aerocaches.

    See "Aerocache Hound" for more information.

  • Find 10 Aerocaches of the Day.

    See "Pentacontacache" for more information.

  • Find any 50 Aerocaches.

    To locate an Aerocache, it will first help if you enable the Aerocache tracker. Click missions, then click Aerocache Hunt to find a list of all the Aerocaches that can be located. Click on an Aerocache and the first thing you should take note of is the description (is it located at the airport, on a beach near the sea or elsewhere meaning it will be inland). Then, if you wish, you can use Bing to help you narrow down its location faster. Click the link, then click on Bing maps, and hopefully the location will be placed. However it is not always accurate and sometime has difficulty finding it. Finally, you should click start hunt which will take you to the nearest airport. If the location of the Aerocache is at the airport, I suggest you exit the aircraft with "E" and run around to collect, otherwise take note of how close the Aerocache is. Click "M" to bring up the map, zoom in, then right click the approximate distance the Aerocache was away in any direction. Then hit "M" again (note if you found the location on Bing, click there). Once you have done that the Aerocache will either be closer or further away. If it is close you have clicked in the right direction and you should go on the map again; right click nearby until you can place the aircraft within 1km of the Aerocaches. From there it should be easy to find and fly through. If the Aerocache is further away, then click in the other direction and it should get closer.

  • Find 50 Aerocaches of the Day.

     

    Select Activities, then select Aerocache Hunt. This will bring up a list of all the Aerocaches that can currently be collected. The top one of the list will have a timer next to it; this is the Aerocache of the day. Find this on 50 different days and the achievement is yours. See "Aerocache Hound" for more information on finding Aerocaches.

    Note: While this achievement may be possible without DLC, it will take a much longer time for them to come up. Therefore, it is recommended that you buy the Hawaiian Adventure pack to make this much quicker.
  • Fly multiplayer with a Microsoft Flight Team member or with anyone who has earned this achievement.

    Select multiplayer, then select quick match to join a game. The achievement should pop within the first couple of seconds of joining if someone in the lobby has it; if not, then quit out and search again. Alternatively, select multiplayer then select settings. Change your session type to public; this will allow random people to join your game. If someone with the achievement joins, you will get it.

  • G-LOC

     

    10

    Reach 12 positive G's.

    The RV-6A or P51 are recommended for this achievement. First you will need to climb to about 10,000 ft above ground level. Then, put your plane into a dive with the throttle set to full. Once you near the ground, pull the aircraft nose up out of the dive and the achievement will unlock.

  • Redout

     

    10

    Reach 6 negative G's.

    The RV-6A or P51 are recommended for this achievement. First, you will need to be 3,000 ft above ground level. Then, put your plane into a 45 degree dive. Once there, you need to invert the plane by holding left or right till the aircraft is upside down. Once it's there, you will need to pull the plane up to the sky whilst keeping it inverted. Press the up arrow (or the same control that you would use to make the plane dive if it were the right way up) and the achievement will pop.

  • Accumulate 1 hour of inverted flight.

    Inverted flight is when your flying upside down. You need to do this for a whole hour but it does not need to be done in one go. You can check your progress for this achievement by heading to pilot profile; under flight time it will have a section for inverted. While this can be done in the Stearman, the RV-6A or P-51D Mustang are recommended as they are much easier to keep inverted. To invert your plane, I recommend you first set your Camera to Freelook with F11. This will make it easier to tell when you are fully inverted and also when the aircraft is stable. Then, be at least 1,000ft above the ground and make sure the throttle is at 100%. If you are using it, disable the mouse by hitting SPACE, then hit either left or right arrow until you are inverted. You may go too far and start to turn back around. If this happens, just keep tapping the left and right arrows until you are perfectly upside-down. Once you are there, just keep tapping the up arrow to keep yourself at the same height.

  • Fly less than 10 feet above the ground or water, upside down, at over 150 knots.

    While this may be possible in the Stearman, the RV-6A or P-51 are recommended as they are much quicker and much easier to control when inverted. I recommend inverting the plane first at a higher altitude above the water, then letting its altitude decrease slowly by tapping the up arrow, but not as much as you would if you wish to keep it at the same height. Let its altitude slowly decrease until you hit the 10 feet, and then level out and the achievement will unlock.

  • Dizzy

     

    30

    Complete 5 consecutive spins.

    First of all, to make this easier you will need to go to Options, Gameplay, and turn Increased Stability off. Then, select the Stearman and climb to at least 4,000ft above the ground. Once there, put the throttle down to 0% and keep the plane level till you stall. Hit increase the throttle a bit (35% -40%) and keep hold of "A". This should get you to start spinning. Spin 5 times, then hold D to level yourself and the achievement will unlock.

    Note: This can also be completed during the mission Stearman Aerobatics.
  • Successful landing with empty fuel tanks.

    Go to the hanger, select your favorite plane to land, and empty its fuel tank. Next, go to the map and click free flight. Right click on the map near an airport, then click the circle around your plane to change its direction. Change the direction so it is the facing in the direction of the runway (little white line on smaller airports icon). Once there, hit "M". This should start you in midair facing the runway. Then, all you have to do is land, slowdown and the achievement will unlock.

  • 32K

     

    40

    Fly to over 32,000 feet above sea level.

    While you do not need it, the P51 will make it much easier to gain this achievement. To make it go faster, start a free flight with full fuel over one of the higher points on Hawaii. Open the throttle to full and put the nose of the aircraft in a steady climb so that your speed is constant but your altitude is increasing. Leave your pc alone for 10 min, come back, and you should have the achievement. It is recommended that you do the "Mach 1" achievement straight after completing this one.

  • Land a fixed wing aircraft backwards.

    This achievement has been known to randomly unlock, however, your best chance to unlock it normally will be Maule landing challenge 6. Once you get to the other side of the observatory, turn the plane around and fly into the wind. Wait until you pass it again, and decrease the power of the aircraft to less than 75%. You should start flying backwards because of the strong wind. Land on the ground and the achievement will unlock.

  • Earn gold on all Stearman landing challenges.

    The Stearman has a total of six landing challenges which are judged by the following criteria:

    • Vertical Speed (speed at which you are descending)
    • Horizontal Speed (speed you are moving along the ground)
    • Runway Centreline (how close you are to the centre of the runway and the correct heading)
    Each of the 3 criteria is judged on a maximum of 500points and you need 1,450 points or more to gain gold. 
    Runway Centreline is the easiest to get full marks on. Line up your approach with the centre of the runway quite far out; on the Stearman some of the runways can be quite hard to locate until your very close to them. Therefore, it will take a couple of tries before your comfortable with the direction it is facing. Once you are lined up with the runway, your power should always be cut to idle. This will allow you to slow down and glide in.
    Vertical Speed is all about how fast you are descending. It depends on how quickly your altitude is decreasing; the slower, the better. If you are descending too fast, you may need to put the nose up so you descend slower and even add a bit of power. Do not add too much that you start going up again, but enough to slow your rate of decent to near 1ft per second near the runway.
    Horizontal Speed is the indicated speed you are travelling. Ideally you want to be traveling at 55kts or less when you land. Cutting the engine to idle for a while before you land will help slow you down, as will putting the nose of the aircraft up and landing into the wind.
  • Frighten 10 or more passengers while flying jobs.

    To fly a job, click on any airport on the map, then click Job's board on the right, and look for one which involves passengers. To frighten the passenger during the job, you must get the green tick on the right to turn into a red exclamation mark. A simple way of doing this is either to perform aerobatics in flight or point the nose at the ground to make them think they are going to crash, then pull out at the last second and complete the flight. While most jobs require a larger plane like the Maule, the $100 hamburger can be completed in the icon, however, it will take 10 of these for the achievement to unlock as you can only take 1 passenger at once.

  • Exceed 500,000 total XP.

    To unlock this achievement you need reach 500,000 XP. You can gain XP in several ways including:

    • Completing missions
    • Completing challenges
    • Completing jobs
    • Finding Aerocaches
    Both Missions and jobs have XP for completing them as well as bonus XP on offer throughout the duration of the task. For instance, most jobs will reward bonus XP for flying them at night. For information on finding Aerocaches see "Aerocache Hound". You should gain this achievement with natural progression throughout the game. However, if you do not, the fastest way of gaining extra XP is to complete one of the earlier landing challenges like Stearman Landing challenge 1 over and over.

DLC: Hawaiian Adventure Pack

There are 7 achievements with a total of 295 points

  • Complete the Aerobatics Competition mission.

    You will unlock this mission once you have reached level 11 and completed the Stearman Aerobatics mission. Simply complete it for the achievement to unlock. I recommend using the RV-6A for this mission. The missions requires you to perform 8 aerobatic maneuvers inside a box above the runway. However, to complete the mission, you only need to attempt a maneuver not complete it. Once you have completed a maneuver, you can exit the box and it will tell you to land, giving you the achievement.
  • Earn gold on all Icon A5 landing challenges.

    The icon A5 has 6 landing challenges to be completed, 3 of which require the "Hawaiian Adventure Pack" to play. 
    The first 3 challenges are judged on:
    • Soft Landing (how slowly you touchdown- the slower you are traveling along the ground and the slower you are descending, the better)
    • Side Skid (how much your aircraft moves about upon landing, try to keep it as straight as possible as soon as you touch down)
    • Runway Centreline (how close you are to the centre of the runway and how close you are to the direction it is facing 

    The last 3 are all water landings and are only judged on Soft Landing and Side Skid (there is no centre line on the water). 500 points are available for each criteria. The first 3 challenges require you to score 1,450 for gold; the last 3 require 950.

    For the landings, you should line up your approach from along distance away, then cut the power to idle and glide the aircraft in. Remember to put the gear down "G" on the first 3 challenges. Ideally, you should be descending at 1ft per second near the ground and traveling at less than 55kts. For the water landing, ensure you land with enough time to slow the aircraft down before you reach land. If you do not do so, it will class it as having crashed your aircraft..
  • Earn gold on all RV-6A landing challenges.

    These landings are very similar to the first 3 of the Icon A5 and are judged on the same criteria. See "Icon A5 Landing Master" for more information. The only real difference is the weather; the earlier challenges have strong winds. Fortunately, most of these are in roughly the same direction as the runway, so by landing into the wind, it is actually helpful in slowing you down. For challenges 5 and 6, you will need to make an approach through the fog. For these challenges, I recommend you stay above the fog layer until you near the airport as this will make it easier to locate. Then, line yourself up and start to descend; if you start to pick up speed, cut the throttle to idle and lower the flaps with "F5". This shall help slow you down. Take note of the height of the runway; when you near the target height, level out and try to descend as slowly as possible onto the runway.

  • Earn gold on Hilo, Windfarm, and Ford Island Gold Rush challenges.

    For theses challenges, you will have to fly through a series of stars and collect all of them for a gold within the 3:30 time limit. I recommend using the Icon A5 as it is extremely maneuverable and slow enough to avoid hitting other objects such as buildings. For the first 2 challenges, the quickest method is probably to circle the level collecting as many points as you can on each pass. For the last one, it is recommended that you first collect all the rings around the buildings near where you start. Then, move onto the ones next the the battleship, followed by the ones at the bridge, and finally the ones at the road and between the rows of trees.

  • Land at all military airfields in Hawaii.

    You will earn this achievement while going for "Hawaii Explorer", however, if you wish to do it first, the airfields you need to land at are:

    • Bradshaw AAF - Hawaii
    • Kaneohe Bay MCAF (PHNG) - Oahu
    • Honolulu Intl (PHNL) - Oahu (Note: While it is mostly a civilian airfield, they share a runway)
    • Ford Island NALF (PHNP) - Oahu
    • Wheeler AAF (PHHI) - Oahu
    • Barking Sands PMRF (PHBK) - Kauai
    See "Hawaii Explorer" for more information.
  • Land at all Hawaiian airports.

    There is a total of 36 airport you need to land at for this achievement.
     
    For this achievement, chose your favorite plane to land, then click free flight. Zoom in on the map, right click near an airport, then left click on the plane. Click and drag the circle to it so it is facing in the same direction as the airports runway (little white line on each airport). Hit "M" and it will start you in the air with the runway lined up in front of you. Simply land and it will class as a landing. Once done, hit M again, and move onto the next airport. I recommend doing each island in turn and moving around the airports on each island in a clockwise direction so you don't miss one. lt may be helpful after each one to check your player profile and see whether:
    • Your total landings have gone up but your airports landed at have not (means you have already landed there)
    • Your Airports landed at has gone up
    • Neither total landings or your airports landed at have gone up (means it did not recognise it and you will have to repeat the landing)
    It may also be helpful to make a list of which airports you have landed at to help you keep track.
     
    Note: Bellows AFB (XBEL) is disused and therefore is not needed. 
  • Complete all Hawaii missions.

    There are a total of 9 missions in the game. Simply complete all of them and the achievement is yours.

     
    The missions are:
    • Tutorial 1 - Flight Essentials
    • Wedding Party (To unlock complete Tutorial 1)
    • Tutorial 2 - Landing (To unlock complete Wedding Party)
    • Stearman Into (To unlock reach level 2)
    • RV-6A checkout (To unlock reach level 4)
    • Stearman Aerobics (To unlock complete Stearman intro, reach level 5)
    • Small Airstrip Photo Project (To unlock complete RV-6A checkout, reach level 6)
    • Kayaker Search and Rescue (To unlock reach level 7)
    • Mobile Observatory (To unlock complete RV-6A checkout, reach level 9)
    • Fly-In Events (To unlock reach level 10)
    • Hawaii Photo Book (To unlock complete RV-6A checkout, reach lvl 10)
    • Aerobatics Competition (To unlock complete Stearman Aerobatics, reach lvl 11)
    For more information on Aerobatics Competition, see "Aerobat". For the fly-in-events mission, you can just have a go at one of the challenges, exit, and it will complete the mission. You do not have to do them all.

DLC: Maule M-7-260C

There are 3 achievements with a total of 110 points

  • Fly light cargo missions and deliver 6 varieties of animals.

    Cargo missions will become available on the job board once you have reached level 5. Once there, you will have to deliver all 6 different varieties of animals. They are:

    • Chickens
    • Pigs
    • Monkeys
    • Ducks
    • Dogs
    • Cats
    You can skip most parts of the mission by hitting "N" when it comes up. To make taking off and landing the aircraft easier, make sure you are only carrying the fuel you need for the job. You can add more in the hanger when you are selecting the aircraft before you start the job. Remember the range of your aircraft is given in km and the distance of the job in nm. As a rule, 1 nm = 1.852 km.
  • Transport 4 tons of clandestine cargo with at least 80% cargo security.

    Clandestine cargo missions will come available at level 9 and are only available at airports without a tower (purple ones on the map). If there are none available, try shutting the game down and restarting it as this will reset the jobs. Unlike other cargo missions, Clandestine ones require you to keep the aircraft below 1,000ft above the ground. Therefore, it is recommended that instead of traveling over islands, you travel round the coast of them. Even though this will take longer, it will also mean you can keep an accurate eye on you height by staying below 1,000ft. It also means you are unlikely to stray above it accidentally as there will be no valleys beneath you which can rapidly increase your height off the ground. You will also occasionally need to stay clear of other aircraft.
    Also note that unlike other cargo missions, you can not skip ahead in these so make sure you have the time to complete the flight. If you can get the plane to stay level when traveling across water, you can leave it flying for a bit and come back later.
    You have to deliver 4 tons in total or 3628kg. It is recommended that you try to find a mission delivering 800kg or more in less than 50nm. Also once you have completed a mission, you can chose play again and replay the mission rather than having to find another one.

DLC: North American P-51 Mustang

There are 2 achievements with a total of 60 points

  • Mach 1

     

    20

    Exceed Mach 1.

    You can get this achievement right after you unlock "32K". Once at that height, just put the P51 in vertical dive with the throttle at 100%, and it will unlock once you go past the sound barrier. If your having trouble with "G-Loc", as soon as you get this achievement, pull the nose of the aircraft up and that achievement will also unlock.

DLC: Hawaiian Advanture Pack AND Maule M-7-260C

There are 2 achievements with a total of 40 points

  • Earn gold on all Maule M-7-260C landing challenges.

    The maule landing challenges are in someways similar to the icon ones and are judged on the same criteria (see "Icon A5 Landing Master" for more information). The exception is that number 3 is judged on touchdown instead of soft landing (which is the same thing anyway), and 5 and 6 are only judged on soft landing and side skid. That is where the similarities end. Most of the maule challenges have either extremely windy weather, inappropriate surfaces to land on, or both. Always follow these pointers though and they will help you get gold:

    • Line up your landing from a long way away
    • Try to land in the centre or earlier of the designated area
    • Remember to use your flaps "F6" to help slow you down
    • For the soft landing, you will need to be traveling at around 60kts and descending slowly
    • If you are descending too fast, you need to increase throttle to around 45% and put the nose up
    • Try to land into the wind as this will help slow you down
  • Deliver cargo to Princeville Airport on the island of Kauai.

    Click on the jobs board of various airports until you find a cargo mission going to Princeville. You will need to be at least level 5. Complete that mission and the achievement is yours 
    Note: It has to be a cargo mission, not a passenger mission.

  • Transport happy and satisfied passengers to Kahului airport on Maui.

    Click on the jobs boards of various airports until you find one that involves delivering passengers to Kahului. You will need to be at least level 11. To complete the mission, you will need to keep your passengers happy. This will involve keeping the aircraft level except when you need to turn, which you should do gently, and landing as softly as possible. For more information on this, see "Maule M-7-260C Landing Master". Also, landing will be easier if you are not overloaded so make sure you only take a little more fuel that will be needed, Remember the range of your aircraft is given in km and the distance of the job in nm. As a rule, 1 nm = 1.852 km.

DLC: Alaskan Wilderness Pack

There are 6 achievements with a total of 275 points

  • Perform a water assisted landing in a non-amphibious aircraft.

    You need to land on water, then taxi to land in the Carbon Cub. You will get this upon completing the McGrath Ski Landing Challenge. See "Alaska Landing Master" for more information.

  • Perform a landing above 16,000 feet.

    The best place to this is in the eastern mountains near the boarder with Canada. The lighter shades of green on the map represent the highest areas where the mountains are found.

  • Earn gold on each Gold Rush and Challenge Course in the Alaska Wilderness Pack.

    You will need to earn a gold medal on the following:

    Keystone Canyon Challenge Course
    • Kodiak Challenge Course
    • Gold Rush Dutch Harbour
    • Gold Rush Alpine Lakes
    • Gold Rush Kodiak Station
    For the challenge courses, the best option is probably to fly flat out as fast as you can around the course. Make sure you are flying at night to collect the extra 500 points. Setting a fast time should gain you the 3,000 points needed for gold. If you need more points, then try throwing in a barrel roll in between the further apart checkpoints as this put you over the point target.

    For the gold rush, you will need to collect the flying rings. You do not need to collect them all, however, if you start from the right place, these should not give you too much trouble.

     

  • Earn gold on 7 landing challenges from the Alaska Wilderness Pack.

    There is a total of 9 landing challenges in Alaska. 6 can be completed without the need to purchase additional DLC. However, the other 3 will require you to own the RV-6A from the "Hawaiian Adventure Pack", the "Maule M-7-260C", and the "P-40". Only one of these will be needed for the achievement since you only need to complete 7 of the 9 challenges. 

     
    Landings are judged on a variety of criteria including:
    • Soft landing (how slowly you touchdown- the slower you are traveling along the ground and the slower you are descending, the better)
    • Side skid (how much your aircraft moves about upon landing, try to keep it as straight as possible as soon as you touch down)
    • Runway centreline (how close you are to the centre of the runway and how close you are to the direction it is facing
    • Location (you get 500 points for parking next to a specific location)
    • ILS approach (Points for staying in the ILS Approach vector)

  • Deliver cargo or passengers to Wiley Post (PABR) at Barrow, Alaska.

    Click on the jobs board of various airports in Alaska until you find a cargo or passenger mission going to Wiley Post-Will Rogers Meml (PABR). You will need to be at least level 5 for cargo and level 11 for passengers. Complete that mission and the achievement is yours. Your best bet of finding a job going there is to use check the airports at the far north of the map as these are the ones closest to it.

  • Land at 100 different airports around the world.

    Simply land at 100 different airports. See "Hawaii Explorer" for more information on the quickest way to do this. If you already have that achievement, then you will only need 64 airports from Alaska.

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