Maxo’s Career Beginner Guide for MSFS 24

Hi, guys! Flight simulator 2024 was my first experience with flight simulation. After many years and hours spent in Euro truck and American truck simulators, as well as Farming sim and Train sim world I finally found my way to the heights. But let's get down to the merits of things, as a complete noob I had to solve many problems and missing information at the beginning of my career, which I decided to summarize in this little guide. Guide is focused on career mode.

Guide contains basic informations for new players first time playing flight simulator game.

1. Beginnings

At the beginning of your career you need to complete PPL - private pilot licence. Do not skip any tutorials, I can not stress this enough. They provide you with critical informations, you will save yourself frustration or possible career restart later!!

- rule number 1:do not rush anywhere
- main "skill" tree for career are certifications, you have to choose only PPL and CPL (commerce pilot) and after that, it is up to your preference
* at this time 26.11.2024 are helicopters missions pretty bugged, I do not recommend them for more than basic license



- new certification may unlock new mission/job for you to play or new plane to fly
- some of new mission may require additional tasks and you can see them, you can see it in specialization mission, it is tab in your headquarters:


- as you play missions, every succesful landing, succesful mission will enlarge area for you to play, so you will have bigger and bigger chunk of world at your disposal with many more missions to choose from.
- !! after getting specialization, you must first do "golden" mission as your entry to that specific specialization, after succesful completion, missions of this type will spawn across the world

- unlocking new certifications will give you acces to new planes, some with different handling and it really needs time to figure out controls, there are plenty of youtube videos with really great tutorials for planes so you can learn how to operate every signle switch or button inside your plane

2. First missions

After getting CPL you can start to earn money. It is not much for mission, but apply rule n.1 from previous chapter - do not rush!. You will get better and better in handling plane and it is really best this game can offer. You will see how handling of plane is becoming better every day.

Some of your first mission will encounter problems I saw in discussions or have my own experience of like - fuel missing, engine shutoff or multiple penalisations.

In this chapter I like to adress few problems. To get best possible rank and money you should take care of all needed communications and follow regulations. Many of them are at this day bugged or unsolvable by me.

- flaps at high speed - this is bug, you will get this on some airplanes while stationary, nothing to do with it, good speed to raise flaps is indicated by white color strip on speed indicator HUD or instrument (red strip too slow, yellow too fast)

- taxi crossing runaway - to this day I do not have solution how to avoid penalisation, can´t find any ATC communication tab to avoid it

- flying over airfield - If you fly over another airfield you should call them and inform, can be done on ATC tab - nearest airfield - pick one u need - inform about flyover



- ENGINE SHUTOVER - when you unlock cargo mission, you will fly on longer distances and often crashing out of fuel. There are multiple problems. First fuel tanks - starting cessna is by default set on left fuel, and you have to set it to both fuel tanks to use all fuel, also fuel can be added by mapping "add fuel" option in controls, it will add 25% of fuel tank capacity so do it before take off and you will be safe

- DHC 2, interesting plane unlocked after tailwheel licence, oh I crashed many times before found solution, have 3 different not connected fuel tanks. And you have to switch between them while on mission, and almost everytime it is not enough fuel by default, so map "add fuel" key to avoid crashes and your reputation sink

- after enough certifications and enough high level, game will unlock you real time and time slider for 24 hour. Remeber that flying in night or bad weather is challenging an better try as employee and not in your own company plane.

3. Your very own company

After some time spent in missions earning 500 - 1000 or maybe up to 3000 credits you will look for better ways to earn money.

To unlock company you should have your CPL licence and 25 000 earned. But I strongly suggest night flying certificate and instrument rating as mandatory! you will thank me later.

Game is warning you, that after purchase if you crash - you loose your aircraft. !! it is harsh, but it add to game some consequences which I personally like very much (it is not like Euro or American truck simulators where your company earns milions in blink of an eye). What game do not tell you is that first plane is heavily discounted!! If you for some reason buy cessna for 24K and sell it for 170 K as seen in company tab, you will find that new cheapest cessna will cost you 300K!!! and good luck griding it with 1000 credits mission. Do not rush and do not be greedy!

You should definitely start company after at least 20 hours of flying beginners cesna to know airplane at some base level.

You should choose at least middle coverage, there will be no problem to pay it. You do not want basic insurance.

It is up to you which company you will start. For example I went with sightseeing earning about 30K per mission. Yes 30K in comparison to 1K for normal mission.
But!! You have to maintain your aircraft, regularly check if there is something in bad condition and replace it. Be aware in some categories you can click on details, and replace only damaged components - cheaper. In extreme case there are vital parts and no vital parts.



Repaint for 20 K will only restore paint, it will not allow you to choose another color. I do not know how to repaint even new aircraft to this day (27.11.2024), feature is probably bugged

If you have multiple planes, you can choose to "crew" them to make passive income for you, but do not forget to maintenance them too! This passive profit will cover your insurance

In comparison to sightseeing cargo company will earn more money. 30K in sightseeing but in much shorter time in comparison for 100K for 350 km cargo flight with bonus for bad weather. But your heart will stop in that weather and landing hoping not to crash or not to smash it too hard - so full paycheck will go for landing gear and brakes replacement. I love this part of game :)

A situation may arise when you cannot create a new company. This is because enough money is needed to create a company and to buy the first plane. This also applies if the second condition is "unavailable" and in red, you need to save enough.

4. Autopilot basics

After your initial short distance missions, there will be longer distance cargo and VIP transport missions, e.g. 300 km. In this case, only the basic trim is no longer enough, and controlling the aircraft with your hand on the joystick can be exhausting. Then it is good to use the autopilot, at least in the basic form that I will present here today.


The autopilot control interface is on the starter aircraft in the two places indicated by the red rectangles in the picture

Simply turning on the autopilot with the "AP" button will help because the autopilot keeps the plane's wings level.

Heading:
In order for the autopilot to keep the desired direction, the heading must be set. To select the correct heading, turn the controller (1A) to the required azimuth. You must not forget to turn on the function of holding the heading with the button 1B in the picture. Now you don't have to worry about the direction of the plane, the autopilot holds it until the fuel runs out. While the direction hold is on, it is enough to change the direction by turning the 1A button and the autopilot will react immediately.

Altitude:
In order for the autopilot to hold the altitude, just press the "altitude hold" button and that's it. Changing the height is a bit more complicated. To set the required height, you need to turn the controller (number 2 in the picture) and you will see the selected height on the display in front of you. (blue numbers above the altimeter). But this will not make any height changes, you have to allow the plane to change height and enter the rate of climb or descent. For a vertical change, you need to enable "vertical speed" (number 3A in the picture). Subsequently, it is necessary to select the desired ascent (3B) or descent (3C), taking care not to stall and fall, or to exceed the maximum speed during descent.

WARNING! there is no automatic throttle control in the Cessna 172 when using this autopilot. The pilot has to regulate the throttle himself so that the plane is at the required speed.

These are just the extremely simplified basics of using the autopilot. I recommend watching one of the many videos on YouTube that are explained in greater detail. The autopilot can follow the flight path by itself, even guide the plane to land. What I have written here is enough to get you to your destination. This is especially useful in bad weather, when the autopilot does an excellent job of keeping the plane level.

Best is to see on your own eyes, here is autopilot guide from youtube I was learning from. It is for msfs 2020 but works same in 2024:
Autopilot basics

Flight plan: Every mission has a flight plan filed for you. It's the pink line on the display.
Use HDG mode to approach the pink line at a gentle angle, then when you get close (within 2-3 nm "xtc" (Cross Track) in the PFD, switch to NAV mode and the AP will intercept and follow the flight plan (which does not usually follow the Endless Line Of Blue Boxes, but is actually more accurate for the flightplan filed for this flight.

When you are already in the phase where you try to fly according to the instruments, I recommend this guide for ILS landing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gitBpxBTSVI

5. Basic terminology

VFR - Visual flight rules - after completing the basic license you can fly according to visual navigation

IFR - Instrument flight rules - instrument flight - possible after the end of the IFR license, be careful, it will cause you to fly in a hurricane non-stop, to this day (5. december 2024) a bug is still present, if you do not have this certificate yet and you have a basic Cessna 172, I do not recommend doing this certificate until bigger plane owned

ATC - air traffic control - you must obey orders

stall - critical speed - you start to fall, add power immediately and or nose down

PFD - primary flight display - all basic informations to fly aircraft are here

VOR - omnidirectional radio range - it will navigate you to landing in bad weather conditions

Category OTHER

here I will post what I find to help with game in general


traffic in career mode - you can turn it on, because it is off on default, I do not see improvement to this day after turning it on 5.12. 2024

not enough fuel - bind "add fuel" key in controls, superimportant!

premium deluxe planes not in career - to this day 05.12. 2024 I do not have answer why not or if mentioned planes will be available for us to play in career. Strongly hope they will.

SAR - some of search and rescue missions with helicopters are in terrain with no possible landing, probably bug SOLUTION, sort of... - you can land further away, get out and walk to the rescued person, then return to the helicopter with a keyboard shortcut

sometimes when creating new company is imposibble to buy new aircraft, try restart the game

nose constantly pulling up/down - you have your trimming option set, default keys are "K" for nose up and "I" for nose down

BUGGED PLANES - to this day (05. 12. 2024) are bugged (flaps, passengers out of plane, no sound etc.) DHC 2 Beaver, Beechcraft Bonanza, Beechcraft King air, Pilatus PC24

no skip bonus - mission payout is for all your flying, if you skip parts of mission, you are skipping huge part of your earnings

passive income - if you have more planes you can hire crew to fly them for you. Passive income is only generated if you fly one of yours planes or employee mission in career, time you spend in career missions is time your employee earn money. At this day you can be in profit only with cessna 172, G2 heli and maybe vision jet, all bigger planes earn little money with big maintenance cost, they can bankrupt your company, be aware!

R66 helicopter in agriculture missions AFTER SU1 UPDATE upon completion ask for handbrake, since it is helicopter with no handbrake mission can not be completed, save yourself time guys, use only airbus heli for agriculture



I will try to add new informations as I play and discover game! I welcome any advice in comments o7
feel free to leave me in comments what was missing for you, I will try to add it!