The patch is small, but it matters to anyone using third-party aircraft or WASM/SimConnect add-ons. Here is what changed, why the drag reversion happened, and what PC players should check first if the sim starts misbehaving.
The headline fix: drag goes back to pre-SU7 behavior
The most important line in the release notes is this one: Microsoft reverted a change to drag simulation calculations to the pre-SU7 version to ensure backwards compatibility with certain third-party add-on aircraft.
That change followed several earlier patches:
- October 13 – Sim Update 7 (1.9.18.0). This was a big update. FSElite says it brings refinements and fixes to nearly 50 aircraft, as well as the core avionics, and aircraft systems behind them. It also changed how drag was calculated.
- October 23 – Sim Update 7.1 (1.9.21.0). MSFS Addons describes this hotfix released on October 23, 2026 that fixes the drag bug introduced by Sim Update 7. In Microsoft's October 29 weekly briefing, the team called 7.1 a small patch for bugs introduced with SU7, including one that reduced aircraft drag.
- October 28 – SU7.2 beta 1.9.23.0. The drag revert first appeared in the second 7.2 beta build, 1.9.23.0, on October 28.
- November 5 – Sim Update 7.2 (1.9.24.0). The revert reached all players.
MSFS Addons summed up the three weeks like this: the flight model went from too little drag, to a fix, to complaints from some developers that their aircraft now had too much. FSElite says the 7.1 correction introduced unintended side effects for other aircraft categories, specifically high-performance and supersonic third-party military jets—such as IndiaFoxtEcho's fleet. That detail comes from FSElite, not from Microsoft's notes. The notes don't name specific aircraft or explain the technical side, so nobody outside Microsoft and Asobo can say exactly which add-ons were affected, or how.
What this means for you: If an add-on aircraft has flown oddly since mid-October (too slippery, too sluggish, or off its published performance figures), test it again on 1.9.24.0 before you file a bug with the developer. Two cautions apply:
- Microsoft says "certain" third-party aircraft, not all of them. Don't assume every flight-model complaint is now fixed.
- If a developer adjusted their aircraft to match SU7 or SU7.1 drag, the rollback could put that aircraft out of tune. Check the developer's changelog.
Rolling back is the least risky option for a platform that depends this heavily on third-party aircraft. It also means any flight-model improvement SU7 was meant to deliver is gone for now. Microsoft hasn't said whether a revised drag model will return later.
Summary: Drag behaves as it did before SU7. Microsoft says this protects compatibility for certain add-ons, but it hasn't named them.
Simulation and aircraft fixes
The other changes for regular users are brief:
- Helicopters in turbulence: Fixed an issue where helicopters can experience excessive RPM and unexpected lift when the Turbulence setting in Assistances was set to Realistic. If unexpected lift in rough air ever made your helicopter rise during a hover, this is the fix.
- Cold-weather engine starts: Fixed an issue that caused aircraft using Bleed Air Starters (B737, F18, …) to sometimes be unable to start their engines when the air temperature has been setup to be quite low. The ellipsis in Microsoft's list means these are examples. Other bleed-air-start aircraft may be covered too.
- In-flight camera menu: Fixed an issue where the values in the in-flight Camera menu were not being correctly read / set. Microsoft doesn't say which camera values were affected.
The helicopter, camera and SimConnect fixes were tested publicly first. They appeared in the first 7.2 beta, version 1.9.22.0, which opened the same day 7.1 shipped. According to MSFS Addons, two of those first fixes answer problems players have been raising on the official forums since Sim Update 7 launched on October 13.
Summary: Helicopter pilots, cold-weather 737 and F/A-18 flyers, and anyone tweaking camera settings all get a fix in this patch.
Fixes for developers and add-on makers
Several of the remaining fixes are mainly for add-on developers:
| Area | Fix | Platform |
|---|---|---|
| XML gauges | Fixed loading of BMP files used by XML gauges | PS5 |
| WASM API | Fixed WASM function fsNetworkHttpRequestGetState returning an 8-bit enum value as 32-bit without clearing the upper 24-bits on PS5 | PS5 |
| DevMode | Fixed exterior profiling randomly using wrong camera angles in SimObject Profiler. | Not specified |
| SDK / SimConnect | Fixed a crash that occurs when "custom simconnect events with numerical id" are used with F:KeyEvent. | Not specified |
The WASM fix explains a bug developers may have struggled to trace. If the upper 24 bits of a 32-bit value aren't cleared, they can contain leftover data. Code that compares the full return value against an expected enum then gets the wrong answer, even though the low byte is correct. On PS5, an add-on could therefore misread the state of an HTTP request.
The WASM fix is limited to that one function on PS5. It isn't a general repair of PS5 networking. If your PS5 build has handled this return value with a workaround, such as masking off the upper bits, check it against 1.9.24.0.
The SimConnect fix covers one specific case: custom events with numerical IDs used with F:KeyEvent. Microsoft doesn't say whether other event types were affected.
Summary: Developers get four targeted fixes, two of them for PS5. If you work in XML gauges, WASM or SimConnect, check your code against this build.
PC troubleshooting: check the Community folder first
As with every recent release, Microsoft starts the notes with a warning for PC players: outdated packages in your community folder may have an unexpected impact on the title's performance and behavior.
Microsoft's suggested fix is: If you suffer from stability issues or long loading times, move your community package(s) to another folder before relaunching the title. In practice:
- Close Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 completely.
- Move the contents of your Community folder into a temporary folder somewhere else. Move them; don't delete them.
- Launch the sim and check whether the crashes or long loads have stopped.
- If they have, bring the packages back a few at a time to find the one causing the problem. Then check whether that add-on has an update for the current build.
This is a way to isolate the problem, not a guaranteed fix. If the sim still crashes or loads slowly with an empty Community folder, the cause is something else, and you can report it with a clean setup. The advice matters more than usual this time, because add-ons tuned for SU7's drag changes may now behave differently.
Summary: On PC, empty the Community folder before blaming SU7.2. Move the packages, don't delete them.
Bottom line
Microsoft's November 5 weekly briefing calls Sim Update 7.2 a small patch that resolves a few issues from Sim Update 7. It also ends three weeks of drag changes by restoring the pre-SU7 calculations. Microsoft is choosing compatibility with the add-on ecosystem over a flight-model change that didn't work across the board. The fixes for cold engine starts, helicopters in turbulence and the camera menu are useful, and developers get four targeted SDK, WASM and DevMode fixes.
The bigger question is what happens next. Did the SU7 drag change exist to support something Asobo still plans to ship? If so, third-party developers will want plenty of beta time before it returns. For now, update to 1.9.24.0, check your Community folder, and fly your add-on aircraft again before deciding whether anything is still wrong.