Enable aircraft damage and failures in MSFS 2024, choose the correct stress settings, test them safely and fix cases where damage seems inactive.
To enable aircraft damage in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, open Settings, select Assistances, expand Failure and Damage, and switch on Crash Damage, Aircraft Stress Damage and Engine Stress Damage. Apply the changes. These options allow collisions, excessive airframe loads and engine misuse to damage or end a flight; they do not automatically schedule random failures.
How do I turn on damage in MSFS 2024?
The three relevant switches are grouped under the simulator’s assistance settings.
- From the main menu, open Settings.
- Select the Assistances or assistance settings page.
- Expand Failure and Damage.
- Enable Crash Damage, Aircraft Stress Damage and Engine Stress Damage.
- Apply or save the changes, then begin a new Free Flight.
If an assistance preset prevents individual changes, select its custom option first. A mistake we see constantly is enabling damage and then choosing another assistance preset, which can overwrite those switches.
The settings can also be mixed. For example, you can retain engine and airframe stress while preventing collisions from immediately ending the session. Our explanation of the individual crash and stress-damage controls covers that arrangement.
Which damage settings should I enable?
Enable all three for the fullest consequence modelling, because each responds to a different type of event.
| Setting | What it enables | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Crash Damage | Collision and major-impact consequences | The flight may stop, reset or display a crash result. |
| Aircraft Stress Damage | Damage from excessive speed, G-load or structural stress | Exceeding the aircraft’s limits can end the flight or cause a structural failure. |
| Engine Stress Damage | Consequences from operating an engine outside its limits | Overheating, over-revving or other abuse may produce damage where the aircraft model supports it. |
Engine and structural modelling varies by aircraft. A sophisticated add-on may use its own damage logic, while a simpler aircraft may react only through the simulator’s global system.
Why are aircraft failures not happening?
Failures usually seem inactive because the global settings permit damage but do not schedule an arbitrary component fault.
- No failure was triggered: Engine Stress Damage makes engine abuse consequential; it does not create a random engine failure merely because the switch is on.
- The aircraft uses a separate system: Some aircraft provide failure controls through their tablet, EFB, MCDU or another cockpit interface. Others offer no configurable random failures.
- An activity controls the assists: Career missions, challenges and tutorials may lock or override selected assistance options. Test in Free Flight first.
- An assistance preset was changed: Recheck the Failure and Damage section after selecting a different difficulty or assistance preset.
- Engine-management assists are intervening: Automatic mixture or other piloting aids can prevent the misuse intended to trigger engine stress.
- The flight was already running: If a setting appears ineffective after changing it from the pause menu, return to the main menu and start a fresh flight.
For a controlled test rather than destructive trial and error, follow our engine-failure setup and recovery procedure.
Does enabling damage show broken wings or crash wreckage?
No—enabling crash damage does not guarantee visible deformation, detached parts or persistent wreckage.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 may represent an impact by ending or resetting the flight rather than displaying a physically damaged model. The result depends on the aircraft and how its developer implemented visual and systems damage. Our summary of what MSFS models during crashes and overstress events explains those limitations.
How should I test failures safely?
Use Free Flight at altitude, in clear weather and away from terrain before testing any failure or stress condition.
Begin with an aircraft you understand, confirm that the relevant damage switches remain enabled, and practise the checklist for that failure before triggering it. Avoid using a Career mission for initial tests: activity rules may override your settings, and an unexpected mission result makes troubleshooting harder.