Usually, a sim update going public means the beta channel goes quiet for a little while. Not this time. On the same day Sim Update 7.1 went out to everyone with its drag fix, Microsoft also opened a new test build for those enrolled in the optional beta: Sim Update 7.2, version 1.9.22.0.
It’s a small one, with only three entries in the release notes. But two of them answer problems players have been raising on the official forums since Sim Update 7 launched on October 13, and helicopter pilots in particular will want to keep an eye on this build.
A fix for helicopters on realistic turbulence
The first fix is listed under aerodynamics. According to the notes, helicopters could experience excessive rotor RPM and unexpected lift when the Turbulence setting in Assistances was set to Realistic, and that’s now fixed.
The notes don’t name specific helicopters, so we can’t say yet which aircraft were affected beyond what players described. If you fly rotorcraft from rooftop pads or oil rigs and switched turbulence away from Realistic as a workaround, this build is worth testing.
The second fix is about the UI. The values in the in-flight Camera menu weren’t being read or set correctly, and Microsoft says that’s fixed. And the last entry is for the SDK. Microsoft fixed a crash that happened when custom SimConnect events with numerical IDs were used with F:KeyEvent.
Should you join the beta?
As always, the beta is optional, and the standard warnings apply. Microsoft repeats its advice that outdated packages in the Community folder can affect performance and behavior, and that PC users facing stability problems or long loading times should move their Community packages to another folder before relaunching. If you’d like to try 7.2, our MSFS 2024 updates page has the steps to join or leave the beta on Steam, the Microsoft Store, Xbox and PS5, along with the full history of every sim update so far.
Microsoft hasn’t said when 7.2 will reach the public release channel. For reference, the 7.1 beta went public a week after it reached testers, though that was a single, urgent flight model fix. Next on the calendar is World Update 23 for Poland and the Baltics, which the team targeted for October 27 during the September developer stream.
