Keep your nose lined up with the cone! Turns about the nose are just one of the skills you can practice at the new ‘Rotorland’ free scenery add-on for MSFS 2024.
If you’ve been trying to improve your helicopter flying in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, you might have run into the same problem that I have: there’s no dedicated place to practice the core skills that actually make you a better pilot.
Sure, we’ve got tutorials—plenty of them. I’ve made lots of them myself, all designed to help helicopter sim pilots build confidence and control. But learning about a skill is only half the journey. To truly master helicopters, you need an effective base where you can drill those skills over and over again.
Well… now we have one! Thanks to one of our own community members, Tangles, we finally have a dedicated training ground built for helicopter simmers, by a helicopter simmer. Welcome to Rotorland!
A Custom Helicopter Training Island
Rotorland is a completely free helicopter training area available right now on flightsim.to. It’s built on Deal Island, a real island in Bass Strait between mainland Australia and Tasmania. Tangles has transformed this quiet little island into a full‑featured helicopter skills playground, complete with a fictional airfield, new pads, race routes, and more. It’s scenic, but the real purpose here is skill‑building.
What You Can Practice at Rotorland
Rotorland is packed with training elements designed to sharpen your precision, coordination, and control. Here’s a taste of what you’ll find.
Slalom Course on the North–South Runway
Two parallel rows of cone markers create a tight slalom track—perfect for smooth collective control, coordinated cyclic and pedal inputs, anticipating movements, and practicing forward‑flight precision. You can even race a friend side‑by‑side. Short, sharp, and still quite challenging!Turn‑About‑a‑Point Pads
Just east of the runway are two circular concrete pads, each with a cone in the center. Here you can practice turns about the nose and turns about the tail—both of which demand simultaneous, coordinated use of pedals, cyclic, and collective. Keeping the cone centered while maintaining smooth lateral movement is a genuine workout for your helicopter handling.Elevated Helipads and Tower Runs
At the southern end of the field, you’ll find two large raised helipads paired with distant towers on the shoreline. This setup is perfect for high‑speed approaches, energy management, timing your transitions, and precision landings under pressure. Race a friend: take off, hit the far pad, return to base, and land cleanly. It’s a brilliant test of your ability to manage power, speed, and altitude all at once.Seven Ultra‑High Landing Platforms
As you lift off and look west, you’ll spot seven elevated landing platforms—each one a unique challenge in vertical control, hover precision, and approach planning. These pads reward patience, finesse, and a steady hand.
A Community Space for Solo Practice, Training, and Group Fun
Rotorland isn’t just a training ground—it’s a shared space for the entire helicopter community. You can practice solo, train with friends, race each other, join group flights, compare techniques, and push your skills further. And because it’s free and accessible to everyone, it becomes a natural gathering point for helicopter simmers who want to grow together. Leave a comment on the product page to share your ideas for further improvements with the developer, Tangles.
Join Us At Rotorland
I think this is a great community add-on. It’s practical, fun, and built with real care for the craft of helicopter flying. You can download it right now from flightsim.to. I’ll be organizing some group flight livestreams at Rotorland soon—so we can put our skills to the test, cheer each other on, and maybe even show off a little. See you there, I hope!
What I’m working on
I’m currently developing ideas and plans for a new YouTube channel, which is not related to flight simulation but which I hope will make my current offering even better. It’s a big and daunting task because I’ll need to develop several content streams simultaneously. Wish me luck!
What I’m looking forward to
Taog’s Hangar ‘Dauphin’
Miltech/Stratoware Bo-105
Digital Aeronautics Mi-2
EmergencyDispatcherPro from Miravia Softworks
Updated Power Lines from Mamu Design
In case you missed it
Cowan Simulation recently updated most of its MSFS 2020-era fleet with quality of life and compatibility improvements with MSFS 2024. If you didn’t purchase them through the Marketplace, sign in to your Cowan account and grab the latest versions!
Offers
Use these links for the latest, best deals from Pimax. Use the code LETSFLY for a 2% discount!
And, if you’re upgrading from any VR headset, you can show proof of purchase and apply for a bigger discount on Crystal Light and Crystal Super QLED.