This friday, the flight simulation community gathered at FSWeekend in Lelystad, Netherlands, for the first-ever Flight Sim Awards 2025. Hosted at the Van der Valk Hotel and organized by Cruise Level, FS Elite, and Threshold, the awards celebrated the best add-ons, developers, and other innovators in the community whose work stood out in 2024.
A New Tradition Begins
The event was hosted by Julius, Calum, Andreas, and Magnus, who stressed the importance of recognizing the vast contributions within the flight simulation industry. With over 13,000 community votes, the awards aimed to highlight excellence across eleven categories, covering aircraft, scenery, tools, freeware, and content creation.
The Winners for Microsoft Flight Simulator
Best MSFS Scenery: FlightBeam San Francisco Captain’s Edition
FlightBeam’s latest version of San Francisco International Airport won the Microsoft Flight Simulator scenery category, cementing its reputation for ultra-high-quality airport sceneries.
Best MSFS Aircraft: Black Square Dukes
Black Square was honored for its Duke series, known for its detailed avionics and immersive flying experience.
Best MSFS Airliner: Fenix A319/A321
Fenix Simulations continued to dominate the airliner category, with its A319/A321 Expansion taking home the highly coveted award.
Best Tool: BeyondATC
The revolutionary BeyondATC won the tools category, reflecting the flight sim community’s growing interest in advanced AI-based air traffic control solutions.
Best Freeware Add-On: FlyByWire A380X
The FlyByWire A380X, the highly anticipated open-source Airbus A380 project, secured the top spot in the freeware category, marking another milestone for the popular development team.
Best Hardware: WinWing FCU
WinWing’s FCU unit earned top honors in the hardware category, demonstrating the growing demand for high-quality peripherals.
Best Content Creator: V1-Simulations
One of the biggest surprises of the night was reserved for the Best Content Creator award, with the community voting for V1-Simulations.
Other Notable Awards
Awards were also given for other flight simulation platforms and categories. The Best DCS Add-on went to the Heatblur F-4 Phantom which, coincidentally, was also revealed today to be coming to MSFS! In the X-Plane segment, FlyTampa’s Sydney took home the award for Best X-Plane Scenery, while the Just Flight PA-28 was named Best X-Plane Aircraft. The fiercely contested Best X-Plane Airliner category was won by the Toliss A330.
The future of the Flight Sim Awards
With its first edition now complete, the Flight Sim Awards have laid the groundwork for an annual tradition that will continue to recognize excellence across the industry. The organizers are already planning refinements to the nomination and voting process, aiming to make future editions even more inclusive and representative of the global flight simulation community.
As the industry moves forward, these awards serve as a testament to the dedication of developers, content creators, and enthusiasts who continue to push flight simulation to new heights.
Did your favorites win? Let us know in the comments!
