With latest world update, Microsoft Flight Simulator shines light on aerial firefighting

World Update 21: Australia of Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 includes a collaboration with the New South Wales Rural Fire Service – widely acknowledged as the largest volunteer fire service in the world. Comprised of nearly 40,000 dedicated volunteers, the RFS is rooted in the NSW communities, studiously managing bushfires that remain a significant, reoccurring threat across Australia. 

Players can experience the critical real-world operations of aerial firefighting with a new RFS-inspired mission using water bombing to put out a fire in New South Wales. 

To learn more about their work in protecting the Australian wilderness, Xbox Wire talked with NSW’s director of aviation, Assistant Commissioner Jayson McKellar AFSM, about the yearly challenges the NSW Rural Fire Service faces in bushfire response, how flight simulations like Microsoft Flight Simulator can help educate players about aerial firefighting and what advances in technology have made the biggest difference to firefighter safety in recent years. 

Read that interview on Xbox Wire.