A few weeks ago while I was scrolling through flightsim.to, I came across a scenery that immediately piqued my interest. It was a scenery for Music City Executive Airport (KXNX). This scenery was different from the others I had been scrolling past though, this one scenery pack added in everything needed for a STOL competition, including a big white billboard that read "eSTOL".

A few days after finding the scenery, I had found some information on what eSTOL is all about. For those who are unaware, STOL (short take off and landing) competitions are typically pretty straightforward, at least in the context of eSTOL. This style of competition involves pilots being scored on the length of their take off and landing with the shortest distance getting the win. Pilots are given three attempts, and their best take off and best landing are the ones that count.

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So now that we know what eSTOL is all about, I'm going to take a quick moment to give a shout-out to all those involved with making this event happen. It was very professional, and an incredible amount of fun. It was awesome to see some of the pilots who compete at the real-world National STOL events take part as well!

The October seventh event saw a viewership of over 2000 people across three streaming platforms. The competition was nearly full as well, with 19 of the 20 available openings being filled. With this amount of viewership, it was truly a successful event.

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Moving forward, the eSTOL season is slated to begin after National STOL's final event of the year taking place in Sulphur Springs, Texas in early November (information here). Currently, the plan is to recreate the National STOL season in MSFS with events happening at the same airfields as the real world event. This will truly be an exciting series of events for anyone interested in general aviation!