Flow Pro Review

Flow Pro - The Best Microsoft Flight Simulator Plugin You Can Buy Right Now

There are so many plugins for Microsoft Flight Simulator it can make your head explode. Some good, some bad, some paid, some free. But regardless of cost there's one plugin I simply could not live without and that's Flow Pro by Parallel 42. Parallel 42 did give me full access to try this out but this is not a sponsored video and no money was exchanged of any kind.

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What Is Flow Pro?

Flow Pro is essentially a radial menu widget. That sounds deceptively simple - and in some ways it is - but this might just be one of the most powerful quality of life improvements you can make to Microsoft Flight Simulator. On the functionality side it's extremely deep and for me it completely replaces the standard top bar menu. It just makes flying so much better.

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The Features I Actually Use

This plugin is so deep I'm barely scratching the surface here. So rather than trying to cover everything, here's how I actually use it and why it's become an essential part of every single flight.

Sim Rate

Easily one of my favourite features and something I use almost every single time I fly. Sim rate controls the speed the simulator is running at — you can double it, 4x, 16x, even 32x. Get to altitude with a long cruise ahead and just crank the sim rate up to get through it quickly. I mentioned sim rate to a friend recently and they had no idea it even existed. It's that useful and that underrated.

Time of Day

The UI on this is spectacular. A circular graph lets you pick any time of day and the sim smoothly transitions to it. You can nudge it by one minute, 15 minutes, 50 minutes, 6 hours, 12 hours in either direction. There's also a pause function that locks the time off — so if you want to fly in golden hour for an entire session you just lock it and it stays there. I use this every single flight without exception.

Weather

All the standard Microsoft Flight Simulator weather patterns are accessible here plus some great additions — typical English day, wildfire, sandstorm, hot and humid. Quick, clean, and right there in the widget without digging through menus.

Portal (Teleport)

Portal lets you teleport instantly to any airport in the world. I've got Gold Coast and Wellington International saved as favourites. Click the airport, pick a runway, choose whether you want to spawn on the ground or in the air, and within about 15-20 seconds you're there. It's not instant — you have to wait for textures and graphics to load — but it's genuinely fast and a complete game changer for anyone who likes to jump around locations during a session.

Landing Rate

Love this one. Every time I land it gives me my touchdown speed in feet per minute. I'm always looking for it. It's a small thing but I find myself using it every landing without fail.

Radio Panel

Quick access to COM standby frequencies without digging through the cockpit. Handy for anyone not running physical radio hardware.

Camera Controls

Orbit camera, cockpit instruments, custom camera positions — all configurable and accessible right from the radial menu. I use the orbit camera regularly during flights.

Controls and Wind Visualizers

A small bar graph style visualizer that shows what your control inputs are doing in real time. The wind visualizer takes you straight to 1,004 feet to show wind direction and speed. Useful for checking conditions before an approach.

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The Customisation - This Is Where It Gets Powerful

The radial menu is fully customisable. You can remove any function you don't use, add anything you want from a huge library of options, and even create folders - essentially giving you sub-menus within the main menu. Folders within folders if you want to go deep. You can assign icons, labels, and build a completely personalised menu that matches exactly the way you fly.

There's also a script editor for anyone who wants to go even further. The filter and script editor functionality for power users is genuinely impressive and goes well beyond what most people will ever need - but it's there if you want it.

The true power of Flow Pro is in how deeply you can customise it to remove all the friction from the way you personally fly Microsoft Flight Simulator.

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Free vs Paid - Which Version Do You Need?

There are three tiers and it's worth understanding what you get at each level.

Flow (Free)

The free version gives you all the standard toolbar functions just in a much better, more intuitive and easy to use radial format. There's absolutely no excuse for not at least trying this — it costs nothing and immediately makes the sim easier to navigate.

Flow Essentials (~$15 USD)

Adds the teleport function, weather presets, and several other quality of life features that make the jump from free worthwhile.

Flow Pro (~$30 USD)

This is the version I've been using and where the real value lies. Full customisation, the script editor, filter functionality, and everything else. At around $30 Parallel 42 describe it as "efficiency as king" — and they're right. At that price it is an absolute bargain for what it delivers.

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Is Flow Pro the Best Microsoft Flight Simulator Plugin Available?

Yes. It's the one plugin I genuinely could not live without and after three to four weeks of testing I'm still finding new uses for it. It's a funny thing how such a simple concept - a radial menu widget - can make such a meaningful difference to the quality of life of flying in Microsoft Flight Simulator.

The free version is worth downloading right now just to see what it does. The pro version at $30 is one of the best value purchases you can make for Microsoft Flight Simulator full stop.