Flight Sim Expo 2025 in Review

It has been a long time since I was so pleased to be catching a red eye flight. Leaving at 3:00 AM on a Thursday with nothing but a splash of coffee the TSA would not let me keep anyway. Knowing I would be airborne before the sun was fully up. It was a rare time to feel as determined as I was. As excited as I still am even after coming home. That is how you know it was Flight Sim Expo (FSE) weekend. I do not want to sound overly dramatic and call it life changing but life certainly feels different after I attend each expo.

For those that do not know, Flight Sim Expo is one of the world’s largest flight simulation conventions. Produced by the Flight Simulation Association (FSA), the expo is a community-driven organization of developers, simmers, and real-world pilots working to make it easier to get started in home flight simulation. Skyward Flight Media has covered Flight Sim Expo since 2021 as an official Media Partner. This year FSE happened between June 27th to 29th, 2025.

Traveling to Rhode Island

As FSE changes cities annually, traveling to the event naturally means traveling to new parts of the United States of America. Speaking for myself, this is a rare time for me to go to parts of the country I would normally not even consider going to. The wanderlust is very real during and after FSE travel.

In my opinion you have to fly to the expo to get the "full experience". My traveling started on June 26th from Denver International Airport. While waiting for a connecting flight at Chicago Midway International Airport, I had to make not of its SBD-4 Dauntless which was recovered from Lake Michigan after it was lost during aircraft carrier qualifications during World War II. Read an article about that here. 

Landing in Providence, Rhode Island, the adventure to the expo immediately began with a helpful heads up from the official Flight Sim Association Discord. Throughout each expo there are many channels related to the event for official announcements and for attendees and exhibitors to coordinate. My early arrival worked out unexpectedly well with FSA staff on site at Rhode Island Convention Center letting pre-registered attendees and media partners pick up their badges early. With the wait in line on Friday effectively skipped, Thursday could not have gone any better. I strongly recommend arriving at least a day early for ease of travel.

This convention center was quite a choice for the expo this year. It is located in the middle of an area densely populated with a wide range of shops and restaurants. The convention center was connected directly to Omni Hotel - the primary hotel for FSE - and in turn the hotel was connected to the multi-floor Providence Place mall. Attendees were able to walk from convention to hotel to mall without ever leaving the comfort of indoors. Everything else in the area was also easy to access with a maximum of a 20-minute walk through a somewhat busy but accessible urban area. As far as venue selection goes, this may have been one of the most accessible and versatile locations this event has been hosted at yet. 

FS Friday

June 27th. The all-important Friday session of Flight Sim Expo 2025. So important this day alone has its own hashtag on social media, #FSExpoFriday. This is the primary day for product reveals and announcements. Friday is arguably the most important day of the expo for those that did not attend in person and the flight simulation community writ large. This day earns the title of “the biggest stage in flight sim”.

Though the presentation did not start until 1:00 PM, in person registration was open by 9:00 AM. I observed attendees gathering as early as 8:00 AM regardless. The initial meetings of flight simulation enthusiasts started while the companies in the exhibition hall on the second level assembled their booths in private. Throughout the day they casually filled the cavernous ballroom in the third level. Within just 15 minutes this ballroom would be flooded by people eager for the first event of the expo to begin. It was impressive to watch the steady stream of people enter the ballroom.

These presentations came from Parallel 42, Altimeter Motives, Contrail, FeelThere, FliteSim.com, Fly With AI, FlyShirley, FSS, Grinnelli Designs, Honeycomb Aeronautical, iniBuilds, Meridian GMT, Navigraph, SayIntentions.AI, SoFly, VA Systems, WINWING, and X-Plane. 

The Flight Sim Association broadcasted all of Friday's presentation free for all to see. For the full experience I do recommend watching it in its entirety. However, if you are looking for bullet points and screenshots, I would suggest checking out the write up by our buddy Shamrock over at Stormbirds blog.

Immediately after the announcements all attendees exited the exhibition hall to find four bars serving complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Each convention goer had tickets attached to their expo badges for this from the start. After a few hours of product reveals with quick breaks, being able to fully discuss everything that was seen and get to know the fellow attendees with no need to run off to another presentation. It was a nice way to end the first day of the expo.

It is also the start of a common practice anyone can do throughout the entire weekend. If you find yourself uncomfortable in starting up conversations, simply ask someone what they fly or where they fly and you'll be given more answers than you were expecting! Haha!

Be Willing to Try

This is a part of the experience that I strongly encourage others to participate in when they are at Flight Sim Expo. Each exhibitor and sponsor put forward their very best with the hopes that visitors will not only pick up their product and look at it closely or jump into a sim pit and fly an aircraft they may have never touched before. The entire point is to be as hands on and immersed as possible.

The exhibitors do not expect every person that tries their products to be professional simmers able to land a Learjet on a postage stamp. They are approachable, patient and are more than willing to walk people through new experiences. I certainly have been guilty of harshly slamming down a wide body airliner, being guided through avionics I may not always interact with in my own sim flying and gingerly feeling my way around flight models of civilian helicopters. Trying something new with varying degrees of success with no tangible "punishment" are some of the best moments of the expo for me personally.

Exhibition Hall

June 28th and 29th. Despite the formal request of Flight Sim Association staff to not create too much of a large crowd before the doors opened on Saturday and Sunday, excited attendees gathered as early as 8:30 AM regardless. Frankly, it is hard to fault them for that. There were no incidents of anyone being hurt by overcrowding or trampling, but the presence of a constant audible buzz throughout the hall put the number of people in the hall into perspective. This was not a gathering of quiet consumers formally observing display pieces. This was hundreds of eager, actively engaged flight simulation enthusiasts among their peers, manufacturers and developers with access to the latest hardware, new simulated aircraft and other industry leading products. The excitement and interaction were consistent and palpable.

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Exhibitor Experiences

There were dozens of hardware manufacturers, software developers, online communities, aviation training companies, media outlets and real-world aviation companies in attendance. See the full list along with their floorplan and web links here. While I visited many of them and had all sorts of conversations, being there as a one-man crew means I was not able to cover them all in heavy detail. That being said, I recommend checking out the many creators that also covered the event live from the show floor. You'll be able to see many of the booths with media about them in varying details.

For Skyward Flight Media, here are some of our notable experiences from the floor:

Aerovector Jet Team

A very cool part of the Thrustmaster booth this year - aside from it being so large they even had their own workshops and AMA sessions - was the presence of the Aerovector Jet Team. This Thrustmaster sponsored air demonstration team is known for their close formations during flight with their exclusive T-7 Red Hawk mod for Digital Combat Simulator.

Besides providing material for the FSE opening video, their members Hornet, Logic, Scheldon and Skittle were attending in person at the Thrustmaster booth. Throughout the weekend they assisted expo attendees checking out the simulators and even offered a very rare chance to fly their T-7 without being a member of the team on Sunday, June 29th.

I had a great time being able to meet them in person, talk with them about the team and getting my own flight stick time with the T-7 with their assistance. It was great having a virtual demo team represented in person at an event like this. It gave a chance for everyday people to ask questions both about aerobatics and doing them in a flight simulator.

Thrustmaster booth.

Thrustmaster booth.

Aerovector Jet Team members.

The T-7 Red Hawk mod.

Paralell 42 x Patriot Aircraft

Parallel 42 (stylized as //42) teamed up with Patriot Aircraft USA to provide one heck-of-a-booth. //42 is well known for its detailed scenery and bush flight aircraft. Their amazing booth this year featured the real Patriot Aircraft Super Patriot Mark II alongside the still in development version of that aircraft to be released in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024. The aircraft was disassembled then reassembled in the exhibition hall with fake grass and a camp ground with hammock around it. //42 staff members guided people in and around the aircraft, while offering them the chance to also view the aircraft in a MSFS build as it sat on the ground. In my eyes, this booth forever cemented Parallel 42 as a die-hard house for bush flying. Seems like I'll be joining Club 42 soon.

Combat Pilot

Speaking for myself on this one, this project has had my passive interest since interviews and developer diaries about it started appearing in 2023. Though my own experience with any of the IL-2 series titles is quite limited, others in the Skyward staff are well versed. Combat Pilot represents an effort that could be a massive shift in the World War II flight simulation genre. When you put it in perspective that the IL-2 series has largely dominated the space for nearly 20 years, hearing that Jason Williams, who is well known to be a part of that legacy, has struck out on his own with a new team and a new direction.

Entropy.Aero, the developer of Combat Pilot, focusing on the Pacific Theater of Operations in World War II is quite a first step. With this not being a frequent setting in these types of simulators, that alone is an immediate draw. At FSE 2024, Combat Pilot presented its Carrier Qualification scenario. It had an F4F-4 Wildcat and A6M2 Model 21 Zero with incomplete cockpits and early representations of the IJN Akagi and USS Enterprise aircraft carriers. At FSE 2025 these aircraft had more refined cockpits, the aircraft carriers had arresting cables, Midway Island is represented in more detail. With no prior experience with this title, Jason guided me through taking off from Midway, performing aerobatics, feeling out the still work in progress flight model, land on an aircraft carrier and taking off again.

I have an even deeper interest in Combat Pilot now with a few questions I hope to have answered in the near future.

MOZA

This well-established racing sim company made a massive move at FSE 2025. During their presentation on FS Friday, MOZA introduced the AB6 Force Feed Back Flight Base & MHG Flightstick, MTQ Throttle Quadrant, MRP Rudder Pedals and FMP18 Front Panel. With this their in-house flight sim ecosystem was both ready to ordered and ready to be tested in-person, live at the expo. On Saturday and Sunday MOZA had tables of all flight related hardware with sim pits full of their hardware ready to try on major flight simulators.

Skyward Flight Media has been watching MOZA's development somewhat closely, this was our first time getting hands on with their products. While it is easy to put a company "in a box" because of its main series of products (i.e. what is a racing company doing making flight gear?) the modularity and build quality of the MOZA equipment has improved greatly since a few of the initial reviews of hardware seen on YouTube quite some time ago. The diversity of manufacturers for flight simulation equipment these days has been beneficial overall to the entire industry in my eyes. MOZA is firmly a part of this.

Geo FS

A simulator that I remember in passing but somehow have not given a serious try myself. I recall them being a near constant presence at past Flight Sim Expos. Geo FS describes itself as a "free-to-play flight simulator on web and mobile with global satellite images. Accessible and affordable, Geo FS caters for beginners, aces or VFR practice." The flight model is described as "complete enough to deliver a realistic flight simulation experience. More than just a game, Geo FS is a real flight simulator."

Each year I have seen the Geo FS booth, it is one of the most lightweight, least complex booth setups while providing access to a rather robust free to play flight simulator. Each time I was at the booth it had a wide age range of people trying out more than 30 types of aircraft. From younger people who are throwing around aircraft to feel out the flight model to some clear flight simulation veterans looking into the finer details of what this platform can provide.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Xavier Tassin - the founder and solo developer of the platform - at least twice at Flight Sim Expo through casually socializing. With Skyward staff members looking at July 2025 as a month of increased glider / sail plane activity, it seems that our first detailed experience with this simulator will be with the Alisport Silent 2 Electro motor glider. More on that soon.

Grinnelli Designs

I am going to open by saying this should have won the Best Booth Award for the expo. Grinnelli Designs (GD) let everyone fly their crown jewel: the F-100D Super Sabre. The heart of their booth was a full sim rig with virtual reality headset running the development build of the module. The Project High Wire version of the Super Sabre features many system upgrades for this airframe at the time it was in service, though its Radar Homing and Warning equipment is the most prominent feature DCS World players will notice. I had quite the time with the team and the F-100D. So much so I have a separate article planned to get into finer details.

While gushing about the Super Sabre alone is possible, it is hard to ignore the time period appropriate inspired design of the booth. Even from across the exhibition hall their booth commanded attention. A camouflaged tent with IR missiles, black couches, museum pieces, an electric guitar with southeast asia livery, themed T-shirts, matching staff uniforms, etc. The passion of the GD team was forefront. It is great to hear that they are interested in attending Flight Sim Expo 2026.

Image from Grinnelli Designs X account.

Exosky

Exosky by Elevons was the only indie flight game developer at FSE 2025 with a booth. We have discussed this game on Skyward before, but this was my first time meeting the developer in person. Jordan from Elevons had a few setups showing various ways Exosky could be played with a flight challenge for people to compete and win a copy of the game. The booth had some pretty great visual materials with it including a human-sized banner and an amazingly large 3D printed Crucian drone - an original aircraft from the game. I hope he paints it someday.

Notably, Exosky was presented on the FS Elite stage with its developer talking about how the game was made and some tips to make game development a bit easier with the assistance of AI, but not reliance on AI. It was great to have more small team projects and smaller games/simulators represented at such a massive event. I hope next year a few more will show up to continue spreading awareness and showing variety to this type of audience.

As a side note, Exosky recently published a post-FSE update based on direct feedback provided by attendees. This feedback helped the developer pin down a flight model issue that has now resulted in a physics update. I can feel my heart beating with joy over this.

Yawman

Something occurred to me while visiting the Yawman team for the first time in two years. Despite how much I use the Yawman Arrow flight controller for various things, I hardly mention it in articles. As mentioned in our launch review, the Arrow is in fact versatile enough to be used in flight games far beyond Microsoft Flight Simulator.

A brief catch up with their team turned into an interesting conversation about feedback from their customers, how they have handled new or known problems, running the Arrow controller on the Steam Deck with XPlane 12 and a few other things. In fact we spoke so much I am fairly certain I forgot to take pictures.

In 2025 I am hoping to follow up with the team for a "one year later interview" on the Arrow, how the company is doing and a few rather interesting moves from Honeycomb and Meridian GMT that seem to have only been made possible after Yawman's endeavor.

Pilot Power

Now this was an eye catcher and a head scratcher. Pilot Power is an in-development hardware system that aims to incorporate exercise into flight games. For everyone attending Flight Sim Expo, the sight of a television bending forwards and backwards in an upright work out station was certainly head turning. Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown was used as an example to have players control aircraft pitch and roll by manually pushing, pulling and tilting the device as a part of physical exercise.

It was interesting to see a product so early in development at FSE 2025, though the team behind Pilot Power received quite a bit of design feedback and ideas for improvements. I feel like normally a product like this might immediately be pigeonholed into a certain sub-set of flight games or it may be price compromised because it would rely on hardware from third parties. Fortunately, their team has an electrical engineer on board, meaning that their design can be refined in house.

Pilot Power staff took in a lot of feedback. While I did not ask how there expo experience was, the semi-steady flow of onlookers arriving to get hands on with this aviation exercise equipment show that they caught the imagination of a decent chunk of the demographic.

Altimeter Motives

Building a full home cockpit is always something I feel like I draw a hard red line at. I love flight simulation, but when I think about dedicating an entire room in my home to this it becomes harder to explain. This is why while I prefer using more advanced flight gear, I do require them to attach to things like desk mounts. So they can be attached and detached when needed. Altimeter Motives somewhat falls into my orbit of interest because while it definitely is a manufacturer of physical panels of flight instruments, these panels clip onto flatscreens which then project the information for the physical panels via a specific software manager. The panels are built to match the cockpits of various types of aircraft. This is probably one of the most accessible ways for people to delve into home cockpit building while still maintaining some type of flexibility.

Winwing

It is hard to not call Winwing one of the superstars of this expo. Founded in 2013, Winwing has made a ton of progress over a decade. In recent years their new lines of combat flight simulation and now General Aviation flight simulation equipment receive high praise. And I do mean this literally - if Winwing has an on-stage presentation on FS Friday there will be literal cheering.

The Winwing booth at FSE 2025 provided a wide array of their flight simulation hardware openly available for attendees to interact with. Attendees could pick up all the hardware, press every button and even be guided through various devices by Winwing staff. Of special note is their force feedback lines of products for both combat flight sticks and now their somewhat immaculate force feedback systems for GA. The recent affordability and accessibility of force feedback technology is something Winwing is leading for sure.

A big highlight of their booth was three full size flight simulators. An airliner simulator featuring almost all of their GA equipment and two combat focused flight simulators. The flight simulators were running Digital Combat Simulator all weekend. DCS content creator Bogey Dope was managing the F-16C 'Viper' focused simulator with Eagle Dynamics Community Manager NineLine managing the a simulator with the developer build of the full fidelity MiG-29A Fulcrum. At first it was surprising to me to find the Fulcrum seemingly so far along in development at FSE 2025, but in hindsight the full fidelity module was announced back in March 22nd, 2024. Being able to fly a third unreleased aircraft for DCS World was an unexpected, but amazing feeling.

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Traveling Home

Even the end of Flight Sim Expo 2025 continued to be dotted by aviation. While traveling home from the expo on June 30th, I met other attendees leaving the expo in the airport. One of them being Lt. Col. Lindsey Jackson of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) who is a part of coordinating organizations like CAP to have members attend FSE events to get their members to experience the expo while increasing public awareness of the CAP.

During a connecting flight halfway home, Baltimore Washington International Airport gave me one last taste of interesting aviation in the form of a Nieuport 11 placed outside the aviation themed "The Firkin and The Flyer" restaurant.

After landing back at Denver International Airport my journey was over, my mind was racing and the amount of content I had to aggregate was... overwhelming. It took quite a bit of time to produce this piece. Partially because of the volume of content, partially because of following up on the many contacts we made.

Once again Flight Sim Expo proved itself to be a bit of a must attend event for those interested in any type of flight simulation. My heartbreak over missing 2024 has been healed by attending 2025, I suppose. With Flight Sim Expo 2026 now confirmed to be in Minneapolis, Minnesota on June 12th through June 14th, 2026, I find myself already looking at travel routes and landmarks in the city.

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About the Writer

Aaron "Ribbon-Blue" Mendoza

Co-founder of Skyward Flight Media. After founding Electrosphere.info, the first English Ace Combat database, he has been involved in creating flight game-related websites, communities, and events since 2005. He explores past and present flight games and simulators with his extensive collection of game consoles and computers. Read Staff Profile.