After a Christmas break spanning from December 19th until now - only interrupted by a brief trailer release to ring in the new decade - the Microsoft Flight Simulator team are back with more news on Tech Alpha applications, with the second wave of the program beginning soon.

The post, made on the Microsoft Flight Simulator website, wishes users a Happy New Year, before addressing applications for Tech Alpha 1, which will see additional acceptance waves next week (Jan. 13 -17). They advise those who have already signed up but have not yet been accepted to keep an eye on their email inbox for further information.

Moving onwards, the next item on the agenda is Tech Alpha 2, which is being finalised according to the team. They have just entered the final testing phase and are following this rough timeline:

• 1.20 – Begin sending Tech Alpha 2 invitations.
• 01.27 – All Tech Alpha 2 invitations sent.
• 01.27 – Tech Alpha 2 ready for download, begin sending build access emails.
• 01.31 – All wave 1 Tech Alpha 2 emails sent.

It is important to note that all users of Tech Alpha 1, including those being invited over the next week, will automatically receive access to Tech Alpha 2 upon release. The next update is expected on January 16th, 2020.

Lastly, the team attached a feedback snapshot from users of Tech Alpha 1 (this has previously been published). The main questions revolved around the aircraft list and the level of detail those default aircraft will contain, as well as questions about missions and a damage model.

Among the top-line "wishes" include ATC, AI traffic and virtual reality support, which is said to be in the works.

Announced six months ago, Microsoft has provided a multitude of development updates on Flight Simulator 2020’s progress, with heavy focus on weather and flight dynamics. Threshold started covering Microsoft’s new simulator at the start of this year, after a sole focus on X-Plane for almost two years. 

The previous status update put a major focus on fully featured snow, a long sought after feature in flight simulation. Check out the full details here. 

To view the development update on the Flight Simulator 2020 website, click here. To view previous articles about Microsoft’s new flight simulator, click here.