Unleashing Realism: Wake Turbulence Takes Flight in MSFS 2024
One of the biggest upgrades coming in MSFS 2024 is its completely revamped physics system. To show this off, the team demonstrated the effects of rotor wash and wake turbulence. In reality, when a plane takes off, it disturbs the air around it, leaving behind turbulent air known as wake turbulence. That turbulent air doesn’t just disappear once the plane is airborne, it lingers and can be dangerous, which is why planes don’t take off one after another in quick succession. Wake turbulence has even caused accidents in the past. In MSFS 2024, every aircraft will generate wake turbulence, and it’s not just a static effect, it changes based on the weather. For instance, at an airport with parallel runways, a crosswind can push the turbulence from one runway over to the other, and the sim replicates this.
Helicopters also generate a powerful downwash, called rotor wash, as their spinning blades push turbulent air downwards. We were shown a demo using simulated smoke to visualize this effect with a hovering helicopter. The smoke billowed and swirled realistically, sometimes completely enveloping the helicopter before unpredictably dispersing. Both helicopter rotor wash and wake turbulence are part of the updated physics engine in MSFS 2024.
Wloch also mentioned that someone on the team suggested adding wake turbulence for large ships, meaning that chasing down a container ship or cruise liner in a helicopter would create a new layer of challenge. While this feature won’t be included at launch, it’s on the way.
This is especially exciting because MSFS 2024 has integrated real-world ship tracking using transponder data. On a flight around my home airport in Maine, I was pleasantly surprised to see a cruise ship anchored in the exact spot it was in real life at that moment. The sim updates this ship transponder data every 30 seconds, so I was able to time my flight perfectly to see the Maine State Ferry Service ferry crossing the harbor, right on schedule.
