Hi as far as I understand it , the wear and tear simulation only works in career mode not in freeflight ?! So what’s about a privat flight mode inside the career mode? Take a privat flight with one of your planes like you would in freeflight, and maybe pay for the fuel , taxes and damages with your ingame currency
Sounds like: Persistence / Middle-Aged-Dad / PPL Career Mode
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This would certainly add to the realism. Fuel costs can be a major factor, and definitely a concern / stressor for pilots who don’t have endless funds.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I believe Neofly lets you do that. It’d definitely be good to have in MSFS’s career mode as well. (Last I heard, it’s unclear whether the launch version of MSFS2024 career mode even has ferry flights or just teleports you to job locations.)
It sounds fun for people who like the money-earning/maintenance aspect but mostly want to fly a particular favorite plane or two, especially small planes, so a typical video game progress path of upgrading to “bigger and better” planes isn’t so interesting to them.
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TL;DR: I’d love for Career Mode to allow free flight with the planes we own, while keeping their location and condition persistent. Plus, paying for fuel and maintenance during free flights would enhance the realism.
Hi,
I’ve been thinking about how the Career Mode experience could be improved, and I wanted to share my ideas to see if anyone else feels the same way.
One thing I’d love is the ability to fly the planes I purchase not just in missions, but also in a free-flight mode while staying within the Career Mode framework. Here’s what I envision:
- Free Flight Integration:
Allow us to take our Career Mode aircraft out for free flights, so we’re not limited to specific missions or scenarios. Sometimes, it’s great to just explore and enjoy the aircraft we’ve invested in, on our own terms. - Persistent Aircraft Location and Status:
The location and condition of the plane should be persistent. If I land at a remote airstrip, I’d love for my plane to stay there until I fly it out again. Similarly, wear and tear or repairs should carry over, adding to the realism. - Economy Features:
Even in free-flight mode, I’d like to pay for fuel, maintenance, and other operational costs to maintain the immersion. This would make every flight decision feel meaningful and tie into the broader Career Mode economy.
What do you all think? I believe this would add a lot to the sense of ownership and realism in Career Mode. It’s about bridging the gap between structured missions and the freedom of exploration while keeping everything interconnected.
Looking forward to hearing your thoughts or any tips for workarounds in the meantime!
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I was just thinking about this today, as I would really like to do some multi leg, long trips with an Optica, for example over the Sahara / North-Africa or Amazonas, and while i can do that in free flight, I would like the persistence/maintenance part of it, instead of just spawning from here or there.
Maybe it would be a bit broken if it would accumulate flight hours for passive income (provided the passive income will be fixed completely) but I personally think it would be nice if it would do. Then you could joy-fly whenever you want while your company is working. But even if it would not contribute to that, I would like it just as a feature. I think it could be implemented even outside career, as a saveable free flight mode as well.
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Totally with you on that! There’s just something so satisfying about knowing your plane is exactly where you left it, and that maintenance matters. It turns the sim into a more complete experience.
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I want this badly! I love bush planes so the opportunity to fly my cub from my own private strip to the nearest regional to grab some cargo and then run it out to remote strip and return is my dream. I’d also settle for working up my company to a caravan or Kodiak but also owning a norden so I can “commute” with the norden to the regional that I keep my work plane at. So much potential with the suggestions OP made. The roleplaying would be awesome.
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I would love this feature and I mean, would it not be a logical addition even?
-adding the risk of crashing your actual owned plane instead of free flight stuff makes it a bit more engaging
-as passive income is connected to carreer mode flight time it would be extra motivation to play in carreer and use existing reward system
-gives some reason to buy some small planes and explore a bit, also good for map exploration
-in my opinion it would be lovely to pay for the expenses of using the aircraft for private flights
I can give numerous extra reasons
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Totally agree with that
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This is a great idea!
Not only for all the reasons outlined above, but currently in career mode we have to teleport to the next location that has a mission available.
I’d love the option of being able to fly my plane to another location to start another mission if the airport I’m at doesn’t have any available.
This would incur the costs of fuel and insurance, and wear and tear on the plane but could also increase experience points.
It would just add an extra layer of realism to the career mode.
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Was about to suggest the same thing, but adding that we could also make use of aircraft that don’t support career mode, even MSFS2020 aircraft.
A Private Fleet for Private Flights.
I think I’m going to use a spreadsheet to simulate this, it will just need to have all “owned” aircraft and their current location.
I’ll build a personal hangar of my favourite career-incompatible aircraft, pretend I’m a billionaire to afford the purchasing, fuel and maintenance 
and each time I need to do a teleport in career mode I’ll choose one aircraft nearby and fly there. The teleport cost in career will simulate the private trip cost.
This seems like it could really be easily done with a change to career mode to add an option to the teleport to generate a free flight and then processing the landing location to maintain a list of private aircraft locations. Private aircraft purchasing could be more complicated though.