Turn Up the Heat in Sims With Density Altitude Games

Testing the extremes of heat in simulation offers perspective into what would happen to the typical GA aircraft under the same conditions.

Peter James

Friday, June 28, 2024 at 03:25 PM ET

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Edited By: tccjeremy

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 offers custom weather. [Courtesy: Peter James]

Key Takeaways:

The article evaluates the realism of *Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020* and *X-Plane 12* in depicting General Aviation aircraft performance, specifically a Cessna 172, under various hot weather and altitude conditions.
Tests conducted at diverse locations (sea level hot, hot-and-high, extremely hot/below sea level) showed both simulators accurately model performance degradation, with significantly longer takeoff runs and reduced climb rates as temperatures and altitudes increased.
Both *MSFS2020* and *X-Plane 12* demonstrated realistic effects of density altitude on aircraft performance, with similar trends observed despite slight numerical variations between the sims and aircraft models.
The author emphasizes the value of these simulations for pilots to understand and practice real-world aviation safety considerations, particularly concerning operations in challenging hot and high environments.

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Now that it is officially summer and blazing hot across the U.S., I tested both Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 (MSFS2020) and X-Plane 12 (XP12) for realism and aircraft performance with different hot weather regimes.

Using live weather was easy enough, but I wanted to test the extremes of heat to see what would happen to the typical GA aircraft under these conditions. In keeping with the theme of how it affects most GA pilots, I chose a late model Cessna 172 featured in both sims, one that many real-world pilots perhaps own or rent from a flying club.