MSFS 2020 missions: does the simulator have them, and where are they?
MSFS 2020 missions are under Activities, but there is no FSX-style campaign. Find Bush Trips, Landing Challenges, training and missing-content fixes.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has mission-like activities, but no FSX-style mission catalogue or story campaign. Open Activities from the main menu for Bush Trips, Landing Challenges, Discovery Flights and installed special events; open Flight Training separately for lessons. The World Map creates free flights, not missions.
Where are the missions in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020?
In MSFS 2020, mission-like content is selected from the main-menu Activities screen, while lessons have a separate Flight Training entry.
- Return to the main menu. Leave the World Map or any flight already in progress.
- Open Activities. This contains Bush Trips, Landing Challenges, Discovery Flights and any compatible special activities you have installed.
- Choose a category and event. Check the supplied aircraft, location, route and objective before loading it.
- Start the activity. MSFS loads its predefined aircraft, position, weather and other required conditions.
A mistake we see repeatedly is searching the World Map for a Missions button. The World Map is for creating ordinary flights. Following a planned route there does not produce activity scoring, instructions or a mission-completion record.
What counts as an MSFS 2020 mission?
An MSFS 2020 mission is best understood as a pre-built activity with a route, lesson, objective or score rather than an FSX-style scripted scenario.
| Activity | What it offers | Where to find it |
|---|---|---|
| Bush Trips | Multi-leg VFR routes with a Navlog, landmarks and tracked leg completion. These are the closest equivalent to traditional missions. | Activities > Bush Trips |
| Landing Challenges | Predefined approaches scored for landing precision, smoothness and stopping accuracy. | Activities > Landing Challenges |
| Flight Training | Guided lessons covering basic handling, take-off, landing, navigation and aircraft procedures. | Main menu > Flight Training |
| Discovery Flights | Ready-made sightseeing flights over notable locations, generally without detailed objectives or scoring. | Activities > Discovery Flights |
| Special activities | Themed or aircraft-specific events supplied by installed official content and expansions. | Activities or a dedicated menu tile, depending on the package |
- Choose Bush Trips for a route split into stages with progress to complete.
- Choose Landing Challenges for a short, repeatable event with a score.
- Choose Flight Training when you want instruction rather than competition.
- Choose Discovery Flights for a prepared sightseeing flight without a formal mission structure.
Bush Trip completion usually depends on reaching the intended destination for each leg, not merely landing at a nearby airfield. Our guide to following the Navlog, finishing each leg and resuming a Bush Trip covers the common progress and completion problems.
Does MSFS 2020 have a campaign?
No. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 has no built-in story campaign, pilot career, virtual salary or continuing sequence of contract jobs.
Activity completion and scores are recorded, but they do not form a career in which jobs unlock aircraft or advance a company. PC users who want generated assignments and progression can use an external career companion; our NeoFly setup guide explains how its jobs work with MSFS 2020. Such jobs are tracked by the companion software and do not appear in the simulator’s Activities menu.
Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 is different: it has Career Mode and contract-style missions. It is a separate simulator, not a campaign update for MSFS 2020. See our breakdown of MSFS 2020 activities versus MSFS 2024 Career Mode before choosing between them. MSFS 2020 remains a PC and Xbox release; the Flight Simulator version available on PlayStation 5 is MSFS 2024.
Why are MSFS missions or Activities missing?
Missing activities usually indicate that an optional content package is absent, outdated or disabled; a missing Activities tile points more strongly to an incomplete installation or stale menu state.
A Bush Trip or Landing Challenge is missing
Check the packages associated with that activity before reinstalling the simulator.
- Finish all updates. Allow both the platform update and the simulator’s own package installation to complete.
- Check Content Manager. Open Profile > Content Manager, clear restrictive filters and look for uninstalled or updatable activity and World Update packages.
- Obtain optional official content. A core simulator update does not automatically install every regional or promotional package. Some free World Update bundles must first be obtained through the in-sim Marketplace and then installed.
- Restart MSFS. Newly installed activities may not populate their menu category until the simulator has been closed and reopened. On Xbox, fully quit it rather than relying on Quick Resume.
- Check Safe Mode on PC. Safe Mode disables Community packages, so downloaded Bush Trips will disappear until MSFS starts normally.
Some licensed or promotional events depend on a particular official package, and not every time-limited activity remains obtainable. An old video showing a challenge is not proof that the challenge should exist in every installation or edition.
There is no Activities tile
The Activities tile should appear on the main MSFS 2020 menu after the base installation and mandatory update have finished.
- Confirm that you are on the main Welcome screen. Activities are not shown among the World Map’s flight-planning controls.
- Complete pending package downloads. An interrupted installation can leave the menu without its expected content.
- Close and relaunch the simulator. This clears many menu states left behind after an update or resumed Xbox session.
- Use the platform’s repair or file-verification option only as a last resort. Check Content Manager first, and do not begin by deleting the Official packages folder or reinstalling the entire simulator.
Can I add more flight simulator missions?
PC users can add compatible Bush Trips and use external career tools, but old FSX mission files cannot be copied directly into MSFS 2020.
A downloaded Bush Trip normally installs as an MSFS package in the Community folder and then appears under Activities > Bush Trips after a restart. A common failure is an extra nested folder: the package folder placed in Community should directly contain files such as manifest.json and layout.json. Our instructions for installing downloaded Bush Trips and diagnosing missing entries cover the full process.
FSX used a different mission format and scripting system, so its mission folders are not natively compatible with MSFS 2020. Xbox users cannot manually install packages through a Community folder; additional activities must come through the simulator’s supported content system.