AI traffic in Microsoft Flight Simulator has always been a bit of a mixed bag. Planes spinning in circles, awkward standoffs on taxiways, and runway antics that would make a real-world air traffic controller cringe. It’s all part of the charm—or frustration—of simming. Thankfully, BeyondATC has stepped up to address these issues with the release of their new traffic injection system, now available in early access.
BeyondATC’s traffic system bypasses the default MSFS traffic management entirely, offering a fresh, more controlled approach to AI traffic. Over the past year, the team has developed a proprietary 3D engine that independently manages every AI aircraft’s movements, logic, and decisions, hoping to provide MSFS simmers with a more realistic and seamless traffic flow.
Unlike traditional injectors, which hand off traffic to MSFS and hope for the best, BeyondATC’s system stays in control throughout the flight. From pushback to landing, every detail is managed directly by BeyondATC. The result should be a more predictable and believable behavior, without the chaos that has long plagued MSFS traffic.
Key features
This is a comprehensive overhaul of how AI traffic operates in the sim. Here’s the list of capabilities as outlined by BeyondATC:
- A custom built injector just for BeyondATC using a comprehensive 3D simulation of every plane’s logic and movement.
- Flight ops from all over the world, boasting over 1 million+ flights from every part of the globe.
- Gate-accurate airlines for every airport.
- Airframe performance calculations, meaning each airframe type will takeoff, land, bank, and pitch according to its performance characteristics.
- Full integration of traffic into the ATC system. All aircraft and ATC will call in and make requests for every stage of flight, accurate to its real world flight plan using the same system as the player.
- Aircraft agnostic preferencing – BeyondATC doesn’t know the difference between the player’s aircraft and traffic meaning it will handle and prioritize your plane in the same way it does traffic making for a very realistic simulation of action priority.
- Taxi logic which will reserve paths along the airport and give way to passing aircraft, resulting in many fewer “standoff situations” than default traffic where aircraft will end up facing each other along a taxiway, unable to move.
- Runway logic and simulation, aircraft are told to line up, hold short, cross runways (with a higher priority the longer they are waiting) and are given clearance according to a deep runway logic simulation. Runway simulation accounts for wake turbulence according to airframe, waiting for vortices to clear before releasing an aircraft for takeoff. An aircraft will be warned of wake turbulence if the preceding aircraft is of a larger airframe than its own.
- “Bird’s Eye Airport Logic” where each controller of an airport has situational awareness of what’s happening in other sectors of the airport, coordinating their actions according to others situations.
- Full traffic representation for all stages of flight; clearance, pushback, taxi, takeoff, departure, center, approach, landing, taxi in, shut down.
- Traffic go arounds; traffic will be told to go around if the landing runway is occupied or unsafe. The traffic then flies the full vectored circuit back to the IAF where it will attempt another landing. The player will also be told to go around if traffic is on the runway or the runway deemed unsafe.
- Multi-Frequency airport comms; airports are broken up into multiple comm frequencies as determined by custom ops data. This keeps comms clear and contextual to which runway the comm is assigned. (Data for this feature is continuing to be expanded. Currently we have data for about 25 airports).
- Airplane sequencing, aircraft will be sequenced in to maintain a distance between them according to their speed and airframe. The player is included in these calculations.
- Pushback tugs, tugs will pushback the aircraft from the gate.
- Custom takeoff and landing animations, these animations are custom built per airframe. Aircraft will flare on landing, and pitch up before lifting off on takeoff. We believe no other traffic injector, including the MS default injector matches the quality and breadth of these animations.
- Full integration of traffic into the local BeyondATC airport map, and a wider view enroute traffic map which can be downloaded here: https://www.beyondatc.net/download
As you can see, it’s an impressive feature list that promises to completely change the way simmers experience AI traffic in Microsoft Flight Simulator!
The traffic system has undergone extensive testing during its experimental phase, where supporters had early access to try it out and provide feedback. Now, it’s ready for a wider audience. While the system is stable, BeyondATC acknowledges that it’s still a work in progress. Occasional quirks may arise, but the team has committed to ongoing updates to refine the system further.
For those wondering, the traffic update is free for all users. BeyondATC made it clear that this has always been part of their vision for the add-on, highlighting that the paid supporter package was about funding development rather than creating exclusive features.
On MSFS 2024 compatibility
It’s worth noting that BeyondATC’s traffic system depends on external 3D model libraries like FSLTL or AIG, which are commonly required for other AI traffic solutions. While this is great, it also highlights a challenge for MSFS 2024 users: third-party AI traffic models, including those from FSLTL and AIG, are not yet fully compatible with the new simulator. This could result in aircraft being displayed incorrectly when paired with BeyondATC’s traffic injector. For now, MSFS 2020 users will experience the update without such issues, while MSFS 2024 users may need to exercise a bit of patience as developers work toward resolving these discrepancies.
What’s next for BeyondATC?
With the traffic system now out in early access, the team is already looking ahead. They’ve hinted at a new feature set to debut in the experimental branch soon, though details remain under wraps.
BeyondATC, with all its AI-powered ATC-focused features and the new traffic injection system, is now available via the BeyondATC website. The update is free for existing users, while new customers can purchase the BeyondATC add-on with a one-time payment of $29.99.
