Learn how to start, navigate, save and complete Bush Trips in Microsoft Flight Simulator, with fixes for fuel, lost progress and landing triggers.
To start a Bush Trip in Microsoft Flight Simulator, open Activities, select Bush Trips, choose a route and begin its first unfinished leg. Follow the Navlog’s headings, times and visual clues, land at the named destination, come to a complete stop, and wait for the leg-complete screen before leaving.
These are the established steps for the dedicated Bush Trips mode in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 has a reorganised activities catalogue whose contents may differ. If Bush Trips is absent there, it is not hidden by an assistance setting; the original catalogue remains available in MSFS 2020.
Where do I find and start Bush Trips?
Bush Trips are opened from the Activities menu in MSFS 2020 and resumed from the first unfinished leg.
- Open Activities: From the main menu, select Activities and then Bush Trips.
- Check missing content: If a trip you expect to see is absent, inspect the simulator’s content or library manager for an uninstalled official activity package. Some trips were distributed with simulator and world updates.
- Select a trip: Review its aircraft, terrain, estimated duration and number of legs. Longer trips are broken into separate flights, so they do not have to be completed in one sitting.
- Choose the available leg: Start the first leg or resume the first unfinished one. Later legs normally remain locked until the preceding destination has been recognised.
- Read before moving: Open the briefing and Navlog, confirm the first heading and identify the first visual reference before releasing the parking brake.
Bush Trips are authored missions rather than ordinary Free Flight routes. The aircraft, conditions and route may therefore be locked. Our closer explanation of the clue-led Bush Trip format covers the intermediate landings, VFR workload and time commitment involved.
How do I navigate and finish each Bush Trip leg?
Complete each leg by following its written VFR route and making a recognised full-stop landing at the specified destination.
The Navlog is the main navigation tool. It can be opened from the in-flight toolbar, although the exact panels available depend on the activity and assistance settings. If that interface is unfamiliar, see our explanation of opening and pinning toolbar panels.
| Navlog entry | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Heading or course | Use it as an initial direction after passing the previous reference point. Correct for wind rather than holding the number blindly. |
| Distance or estimated time | Treat it as a cross-check based on an expected groundspeed. An expired timer does not prove that the next waypoint is beneath the aircraft. |
| Written clue | Match roads, rivers, lakes, towns, ridges and other features to the view outside. This is the primary navigation method. |
| Destination | Confirm the named airport or strip carefully. Landing at a nearby field will not complete the leg. |
- Orientate at the departure: Identify the runway, departure direction and first landmark while stationary.
- Fly the initial course: Establish the aircraft safely after take-off, then settle onto the stated heading.
- Cross-check the clues: Compare heading, elapsed time, distance and terrain. Turn at the identified landmark, not merely because the estimated time has passed.
- Find the destination: If the strip is difficult to see, overfly it at a safe height to confirm runway direction and surface before joining a circuit.
- Land and stop: Touch down on the intended strip, slow to a complete stop and wait for the leg-complete message before returning to the menu.
A GPS route or magenta line is not guaranteed; availability depends on the aircraft and trip. The optional Back on Track function can recover a lost flight when offered, but repositioning or other assistance may affect unassisted awards. For the underlying concepts, our guide to route legs and waypoint planning provides useful background, though an authored Bush Trip route should not be replaced with a normal Free Flight plan.
How do saving and fuel work between Bush Trip legs?
Microsoft Flight Simulator saves reliable Bush Trip progress after a leg is completed, not at arbitrary points during the leg.
Wait until the completion panel appears. Once the simulator has acknowledged the landing, you can continue to the next leg or return to the menu and resume later. Pausing is not a save, and leaving before confirmation usually means flying the present leg again.
Treat fuel as persistent even if a particular trip resets it. A mistake we see constantly is assuming every intermediate landing automatically fills the tanks. Before departure, check fuel quantity and use sensible mixture, propeller and power settings throughout the flight.
- Use an airport fuel point when one is provided and accessible.
- The assigned Repair and Refuel command may work where the activity permits it, but assistance can affect awards or scoring.
- The fuel and payload panel may be restricted by the activity.
- Do not leave a destination with marginal reserves simply because the next leg looks short; terrain, wind and a missed approach can consume that margin quickly.
Why won’t a Bush Trip leg complete?
A Bush Trip usually fails to complete because the aircraft is at the wrong strip, has not stopped inside the destination area, or the activity did not register the landing.
- Confirm the destination: Compare the Navlog name, runway orientation and surrounding terrain. Remote areas sometimes contain several plausible strips close together.
- Make a proper landing: Touch down on the mapped runway rather than landing beside it and taxiing onto the field. A landing outside the trigger area may not be recognised.
- Stop completely: Remain within the airfield, apply the parking brake and wait for the completion panel. If practical, shut down the engine. Engine shutdown is not normally the main trigger, but it removes any doubt that the aircraft is still moving.
- Try the runway area again: If nothing happens, taxi slowly along the usable strip, stop again, or take off and perform another landing on the correct runway.
- Remove conflicting scenery: Third-party scenery that moves or replaces the destination airport can interfere with an authored trigger. Disable scenery affecting that location and restart the leg.
- Check loading problems: If the trip hangs before the cockpit appears, test with add-ons disabled, verify installed packages and inspect the rolling cache. Our flight-loading troubleshooting steps cover those checks in detail.
The whole Bush Trip is complete only after every leg has produced its completion confirmation and the activity records the final leg as finished. Do not quit from the runway before that confirmation appears, even when the landing itself was successful.