Why won’t Microsoft Flight Simulator load a flight?

Microsoft Flight Simulator usually fails to load into a flight because an incompatible add-on, damaged aircraft or airport package, stalled world-data stream, or corrupt cache blocks the session. Start a stock aircraft at a default airport with all add-ons disabled; the result tells you whether to troubleshoot content, connectivity, or the simulator installation.

First, identify where the flight stops loading

The pattern of the failure usually points to the cause more reliably than the loading-screen animation.

A first load after a simulator, aircraft or scenery update can take much longer while packages are indexed. Give it time if disk or network activity continues. If the same screen persists far beyond the usual loading time and there is no activity, treat it as a genuine hang.

How do I fix a flight stuck on the loading screen?

1. Quit the simulator completely. Do not rely on Quick Resume, sleep or a suspended console session. Restart the PC, Xbox Series console or PlayStation 5 before testing again.
2. Create a clean test flight. Select a stock aircraft with its default livery, an unmodified default airport, clear preset weather and a simple daytime departure. Disable live traffic, multiplayer and any external traffic or weather utility.
3. Disable third-party content. On PC, temporarily rename or empty the Community folder. On every platform, disable or uninstall optional third-party packages through the simulator’s content library where possible. If Safe Mode is offered after an abnormal shutdown, use it for this test.
4. Load the clean flight. If it works, the base simulator is probably sound. Restore add-ons in batches, retesting between each batch; once a batch fails, split it into smaller groups until the faulty package is identified.
5. Keep Official package folders intact. A mistake we see constantly is deleting core packages before proving that an add-on caused the problem. That creates a large download without addressing the original conflict.

Do not copy every add-on back at once after a successful test. Aircraft liveries, old avionics packages, toolbar utilities, traffic injectors and duplicate airport scenery can all stop a flight during loading even when they worked with an earlier simulator build.

What if only one aircraft or airport will not load?

Aircraft-specific loading failures

If other aircraft load, reinstall or update the affected aircraft and test it with the default livery. Remove third-party liveries first: a livery built for another aircraft revision can reference missing model or texture files and prevent the session from initialising.

Also check whether the aircraft requires another package, avionics component or base model. A livery or enhancement is not necessarily a complete aircraft, even if it appears as a selectable entry in the hangar.

Airport-specific loading failures

If the failure follows one departure or destination, disable every package that modifies that airport or its surrounding region. Two versions of the same airport, an outdated object library or damaged Marketplace scenery can conflict even when the airport still appears on the world map.

Try the same aircraft from a nearby default airport. If that works, use our airport scenery and package troubleshooting steps to isolate missing, conflicting or damaged airport content.

Can streaming or the rolling cache stop a flight loading?

Yes. Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 depends more heavily on streamed content than Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020, although both can be affected by online services, live data and a damaged rolling cache.

• Disable any VPN or proxy and test a stable wired connection if one is available.
• Restart the router and make sure the device’s date and time are set correctly.
• Temporarily turn off live weather, live traffic, multiplayer, photogrammetry and other online world-data features. This is a diagnostic test, not necessarily the permanent fix.
• If your simulator version provides a Rolling Cache setting, delete the existing cache through the in-sim data options and allow it to be recreated.
• Check that no simulator data cap or platform-level bandwidth restriction has been reached.

If a minimal flight loads with online features disabled but hangs when they return, re-enable them one at a time. A service interruption cannot be repaired locally, so avoid reinstalling the entire simulator until the same flight also fails in a clean, reduced-online configuration.

When should I repair or reinstall Microsoft Flight Simulator?

Repair the installation only after a stock flight fails with third-party content removed and online features reduced.

1. Install pending updates. Update the base simulator through its platform launcher, then update installed aircraft, airports and mandatory content from inside the simulator.
2. Check free storage. Leave enough room for package extraction, streamed data and cache files; having only enough space for the final package may still cause loading or update failures.
3. Verify or repair the installation. Use the repair or file-verification function supplied by the platform. Expect damaged packages to be checked or downloaded again, and do not interrupt that process.
4. Reinstall only as a last resort. Remove or rename the PC Community folder first, because a reinstall may leave third-party content in place and reproduce the same hang.

If repair starts a download loop, produces missing-package errors or cannot complete the required content installation, follow our separate PC download and installation fixes.

What if the loading screen ends in a crash?

A return to the desktop or console home screen is a crash, not simply a flight that will not load. Add-ons remain the first suspect, but drivers, overlays, unstable overclocks, memory pressure and background software also matter; our ordered MSFS 2020 and 2024 crash checks cover that broader failure path without forcing an unnecessary reinstall.