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Pilot Program achievement in Microsoft Flight Simulator

Pilot Program

Accumulate 50 hours of flight time in a single pilot profile.

Pilot Program0
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How to unlock the Pilot Program achievement

  • Bobo daMunkeeBobo daMunkee
    24 Aug 2020 22 Aug 2020 25 Aug 2020
    We're going to spam multiple achievements all at once here.

    Microsoft Flight SimulatorPilot ProgramThe Pilot Program achievement in Microsoft Flight Simulator worth 127 pointsAccumulate 50 hours of flight time in a single pilot profile.

    Microsoft Flight SimulatorInstrumentalThe Instrumental achievement in Microsoft Flight Simulator worth 255 pointsAccumulate 50 hours of IFR flight time, including at least one take-off and landing.

    Microsoft Flight SimulatorHydroplaningThe Hydroplaning achievement in Microsoft Flight Simulator worth 278 pointsAccumulate 50 hours of flight time in rainy weather.

    Microsoft Flight SimulatorNight OwlThe Night Owl achievement in Microsoft Flight Simulator worth 302 pointsAccumulate 50 hours of flight time at night.


    It will add progress towards these as well, but you don't need to do all the extra stuff for these.
    Microsoft Flight SimulatorCentury ClubThe Century Club achievement in Microsoft Flight Simulator worth 209 pointsAccumulate 100 hours of flight time in a single pilot profile.

    Microsoft Flight SimulatorJourneymanThe Journeyman achievement in Microsoft Flight Simulator worth 739 pointsAccumulate 500 hours of flight time in a single pilot profile.

    Microsoft Flight SimulatorWing CommanderThe Wing Commander achievement in Microsoft Flight Simulator worth 1877 pointsAccumulate 1,000 hours of flight time in a single pilot profile.


    Select your plane. I used the Extra 330LT because it flies low and slowish. Rain isn't constantly falling so you want one that won't fly through it too quick when it does rain, and if you get to high you will see less rain.

    Select a departure and an arrival airport that are far apart. I used EIDL Donegal in Ireland to KJFK Kennedy Int'l in New York USA. It's almost completely over water so their are no unexpected obstructions to fly into. Now under the airplane thumbnail you can change from VFR, to IFR (Low-altitude airways). (VFR stands for Visual Flight Rules, IFR stands for Instrument Flight Rules. The more you know...)

    Set Flight conditions to Rain, and time to night. You will have to periodically adjust the time so it stays night during the flight.

    You may want to save the setup at this point so you can easily get back to it.

    Now you can go to the runway and get ready to fly.

    Go to Assistance and Airplane Systems then turn Unlimited Fuel on.

    As soon as you are on the runway, pull up the weather window and select the lowest cloud level. Raise the slider for "Altitude (Top)" up to 20,000 or so, this will keep you from flying above the rain level. Now slide the Coverage slider to 100 so there are no clear areas for you fly through. It won't rain all the time, but it will rain a lot. There is an upper limit for getting rain, but I rarely went above it using this method.

    User KawiNinjaRider7 commented on the solution for IFR that progress is only saved when you land for that achievement. I had an issue where I lost hours of progress for all time based achievements when the game crashed after 8 hours of flying. So to be safe, land or exit to main menu periodically to keep from losing progress.

    NOTE: If you are flying out of far northern airports (like Canada), you may need to manually raise the temperature in the Weather panel or your plane will ice up and crash. On the Weather Settings look for the 'Temparature MSL' slider and increase it to around 25 or higher.

    Close the Weather window and pull up the AI Control window. Turn all 3 of these on and go do something while the AI does the work.
    Showing all 5 comments. Leave a comment.
    Yurgi WinduHow can you guarantee this works when you haven't won a single one of the achievements you are giving a guide for?
    Posted by Yurgi Windu on 23 Aug 20 at 15:42
    Bobo daMunkeeBecause the game has a progress indicator, and all of mine are going up. Check back in a couple of days.
    Posted by Bobo daMunkee on 23 Aug 20 at 16:04
    DoctorActionRioProgress indicator stopped tracking since last week for all hours based achievements. Anyone else?

    It seems last update broke not only so many things in the game itself, but also achievements. So frustrating!
    Posted by DoctorActionRio on 31 May 22 at 22:02
    Luke HermansYes, I'm having the exact same problem. Since I achieved this one, it's not adding up at all. Sometimes my total flight hours are even REDUCED.
    Posted by Luke Hermans on 02 Jun 22 at 09:13
    KGI KlikoNLStill progress ingame disappears and the game stays very broken. I had 39,5 fly time, just did a 1,5 hour one, the game says now 38,5h.
    Posted by KGI KlikoNL on 18 Jun 22 at 15:46
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