Find aircraft carriers in Microsoft Flight Simulator, why most do not appear on the World Map, and how to use working carrier add-ons.
Aircraft carriers in Microsoft Flight Simulator are usually accessed through a carrier landing activity or added to Free Flight with a scenery or ship-traffic add-on. Most are not searchable airports on the World Map. A visible museum ship may be part of the scenery, but its deck, catapult and arresting wires normally do not work.
Where should I look for an aircraft carrier?
Look first in the simulator’s Activities or landing-challenge menus, then check installed add-on documentation for Free Flight locations. The menu names and available activities differ between Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 and Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and some licensed activities shown in older videos may no longer be listed.
| Carrier type | Where to find it | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Carrier activity | Activities or landing challenges | A prepared approach and purpose-built deck, but not necessarily a carrier available elsewhere in Free Flight |
| Static add-on carrier | At coordinates or near an airport stated by the package author | Always in one position; deck functions depend on the add-on |
| Moving carrier or naval traffic | Along a documented route | May not appear on the World Map and may be visual traffic only |
| Museum carrier | At its real geographical location | Suitable for a fly-past, not carrier operations |
For sightseeing, real carrier museums include USS Midway on the San Diego waterfront, USS Lexington in Corpus Christi Bay, USS Intrepid beside Manhattan and USS Hornet at Alameda. Their appearance depends on the simulator’s scenery data, and none should be assumed to have a hardened, landable deck.
How do I reach a carrier in Free Flight?
A Free Flight carrier must be located from its published coordinates, nearest airport or traffic route because ships are rarely selectable departure points.
- Choose the correct package. Check whether it was made for MSFS 2020 or MSFS 2024. Simple scenery sometimes works across both, but compatibility should never be assumed. Our MSFS freeware scenery and add-on library is the place to check for available carrier and naval packages.
- Read the location instructions. Note the latitude and longitude, nearby airport, heading, distance and any required dependencies. A mistake we see constantly is installing a carrier and then searching for its name as though it were an airport.
- Create a nearby departure. Paste the supplied coordinates into the map if that coordinate format is accepted, or depart from the named airport and follow the stated heading. Starting in the air is usually easier than searching at low level from a distant runway.
- Configure ship traffic. If the package uses AI traffic, make sure the simulator’s Ships and Ferries setting is not zero when its instructions require traffic to be enabled.
- Allow moving traffic to appear. A ship may spawn only after the flight has loaded and then continue along its route. It will not necessarily remain at the coordinates where another simmer found it.
For moving maritime traffic rather than a fixed deck, the global AI ships and naval traffic package adds vessels around the world. Check its documentation before expecting a particular ship to support landings.
PC users can install compatible freeware in the Community folder. Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 users cannot copy PC Community packages onto the console, so they are limited to carrier content distributed through the simulator’s supported in-sim channels.
Can you land and launch from every carrier?
No: a carrier model is usable only if its deck and operational systems were specifically implemented. For proper carrier operations, the package and aircraft may need all of the following:
- a solid or hardened flight deck with correct collision detection;
- working arresting wires rather than painted deck markings;
- a compatible tailhook and the correct control binding;
- catapult or launch functionality supplied by the aircraft, carrier or supporting software;
- support for a moving deck if the ship travels through the water.
Follow the package’s own launch and recovery procedure. There is no universal MSFS catapult command that makes every scenery carrier operational, and a naval aircraft alone does not add arresting capability to a visual ship model.
Why is the aircraft carrier missing or not working?
A missing carrier is most often caused by an installation, compatibility or traffic-setting problem rather than its geographical position.
- Nothing appears: confirm that the package is enabled, installed at the correct folder depth and made for your simulator generation.
- A moving ship is absent: check the documented route or schedule, required dependencies and the Ships and Ferries traffic setting.
- The aircraft falls through the deck: the model lacks a usable collision surface or does not support a moving landing platform. Graphics settings will not repair this.
- The hook crosses the wires without stopping: the wires may be decorative, or the carrier and aircraft systems may be incompatible.
- The carrier is present but cannot be selected on the map: this is normal for scenery objects and AI ships; begin nearby and intercept it in flight.
When choosing an add-on, use a static carrier for predictable practice and a specifically documented operational carrier for arrested landings or catapult launches. Choose moving naval traffic mainly for interception, formation flying and believable maritime scenery unless the package explicitly promises a working deck.