FlightSim Studio E-Jets 190/195: lovely to hand-fly, still unable to hold an altitude

On 13 December 2023, five days before the E190/195 went on sale, FSElite reported FlightSim Studio's plan for the aircraft: a custom flight management system and a custom autopilot, with Summer 2024 as the timeframe. On 18 August 2026 a beta tester pasted the changelog for build v0.10.43 into the official forum thread. A customer read it and replied: "I am glad to see improvements, but, there is no mention of any autopilot updates."

Thirty-two months separate those two sentences, and almost everything you need to know about this aeroplane lives in the gap between them. The E190/195 is, by a wide margin, the prettiest Embraer in Microsoft Flight Simulator. The 3D model was licensed from X-Crafts, the X-Plane studio whose E-Jets are the reference in that ecosystem, and FSS rebuilt it around native MSFS decals and PBR. The sound set is one of the best on any airliner in the sim, cabin announcements included. It hand-flies beautifully. Real E-Jet operators are everywhere, so the route options are endless.

And on the build most owners actually have installed, the autopilot will not reliably hold a cruise altitude.

That is not a hostile summary. It is the developer's position too, more or less. FSS's own product page says, in the plainest words a marketing department has ever been allowed to publish: "If you expect a finished study-level product today, we recommend waiting." The documentation for the branch containing the good FMS says "This version is buggy" and, under "Where can I report bugs?", answers "Nowhere." The company is being honest. The question is whether honesty about an unfinished product is the same thing as a product worth €33.57, and that is what the community has been arguing about since December 2023.

This review draws on 27 sources: four store listings and their rating spreads, the developer's product page, roadmap, documentation hub and four status reports, five threads on the official MSFS forums including the 1,064-post discussion hub that runs from 2022 to yesterday, two AVSIM threads, four written outlets, and three video pieces. Reddit is structurally unavailable in our research environment, so the sentiment-at-a-glance layer that usually corroborates forum threads is missing here; the MSFS hub thread is long and current enough to stand in for it.

What you are actually buying

Two aircraft — the E190 and the E195 — in one package, with long and short winglet variants and nineteen-plus liveries. It is an Early Access product and has been since day one.

Developer	FlightSim Studio AG (Switzerland)
Publisher / distributor	Aerosoft GmbH
3D model	Licensed from X-Crafts
Released	18 December 2023 (Discord announcement); listed on simMarket 22 December 2023
Platforms	MSFS 2020-native package, compatible with MSFS 2024
simMarket	€33.57
Aerosoft (own store)	€33.57, stated "Price excl. VAT"
Contrail	$40.02
Just Flight	US$39.99
Sister package	E-Jets 170/175, €33.57, separate purchase
Freighter	E190/195F, €20.96 — free if you own both passenger packages
Current stable build	v0.9.43
Current public experimental build	v0.10.41 (24 July 2026)

Two things about that price. It is not a sale. There is no discount badge on the simMarket listing, no strikethrough, and the product carries no 30-day-price-low field at all — the "−50%" and "€13.20" that appear in the page's HTML belong to a different product in the "customers also purchased" carousel. €33.57 is €39.95 including 19% German VAT, and it is the standing Early Access price: FSS told FSElite in December 2023 that it had planned to raise prices as the roadmap progressed and decided not to, and the company's own FAQ says flatly that "the packages are already reduced in price during Early Access." Aerosoft's own shop shows the identical €33.57 marked "excl. VAT", so simMarket is not undercutting anybody. Sales do happen on top of this — the aircraft was $27 on Contrail at the end of May 2026 — but the shelf price is the shelf price.

The second thing is the branch split, and it is the single most important fact for a buyer. What you install by default is the stable build, v0.9.43, whose FMS is a LOAD27-styled interface over the stock MSFS flight planner. It has no VNAV. It has never had VNAV. The custom FMS that FSS has been writing since 2023 — with LNAV, VNAV PATH, FLCH, ASEL, ALT, GP, go-around and CAT II annunciation — lives only in the experimental branch, which you have to opt into deliberately in Aerosoft One or the Contrail app, and which the developer's documentation describes as buggy with crashes expected. Both branches come with the purchase. Neither of them is version 1.0.

On MSFS 2024

The badge says 2020 and 2024. The truth is narrower. This is an MSFS 2020-native aircraft that runs in MSFS 2024 — its WASM modules install into the WASM/MSFS2020 folder even under a Steam MSFS 2024 install, as forum regulars have documented. Compatibility arrived with the 2024 Sim Update 2 beta in April 2025, and at that point it only worked if you had already activated the aircraft in MSFS 2020; MSFS Addons reported FSS issuing "a very direct warning: don't buy the E-Jets unless you own MSFS 2020." A genuinely native MSFS 2024 version has been promised, free to existing owners, but FSS confirmed at FSExpo in June 2026 that it comes only after v1.0 — and v1.0 has no date.

What the community consistently praises

The visuals are not in dispute. In three years of threads I did not find a single credible source that criticised the model. The simMarket reviewer who gave it three stars and titled his experience "Disappointment" still opened with "Visually, the aircraft is stunning, with amazing texturing and details." The one who gave four called it "true eye candy". FSS's claim that the 3D assets are "already finished and of top-level quality" is the rare piece of marketing that the record simply confirms.

The sound is the other undisputed strength. Cabin announcements, avionics fans that spin up audibly when the aircraft wakes, pack airflow that changes with configuration. The simMarket three-star review again: "The sounds are also extremely accurate with cabin announcements as an added bonus." Praise for the audio recurs in the MSFS hub thread across 2024, 2025 and 2026 without anyone pushing back.

It is lovely to hand-fly, and several people fly it that way on purpose. "Very nice to hand fly too," wrote BragRaindrop933 in August 2024. Two years later, in August 2026, OldpondGL was making the same point as a survival strategy rather than a compliment: "If you are frustrated with the flight director, I recommend just hand flying the aircraft. When I hand fly I experience zero issues." The flight dynamics were configured by a working airline pilot and the record backs that up.

The systems auto-logic is real, and quick. The E-Jets are highly automated aeroplanes and FSS modelled the automation rather than the switch-flipping. "It's fast to get going," wrote PoppysGreat, comparing it favourably against a hangar containing a 737, a BAe 146, an F28 and CRJs. The EFB — SimBrief import, loading, Navigraph charts, per-livery operator settings, throttle calibration — is well liked. The E190/195 package specifically adds a head-up display and steep approach mode for London City, which is why regulars recommend it over the 170/175 if you only buy one.

When the experimental build behaves, people are genuinely happy. GonzaSimPlayer, December 2025: "I usually fly a lot of study level aircraft and I never expect this quality on vnav when everything is working well." That sentence contains its own caveat, but the praise inside it is sincere and it repeats.

What keeps coming up as a problem

The autopilot cannot be trusted. Still open, and it is the whole story. This is not a legacy complaint that got fixed; it is the most recent one. On 17 August 2026, SaintedGolf136 reported a KORD–KCAE flight on which "the autopilot could not hold a level cruise altitude." On 30 July 2026, TomLamarre called the newest experimental build "a significant reversion, particularly regarding the autopilot", describing an aircraft that drifts off course, climbs unbidden and sometimes rolls into a steep turn in cruise. Through April 2026 multiple users documented a pitch oscillation at top of climb that escalates until you take ALT mode manually. Others report the glideslope capture either ballooning or, in GarrisIiari's words, capturing "then promptly nose dived into the ground". FSS's response is not denial — it is the ground-up autopilot rewrite announced on 21 May 2026, which as of the 18 August 2026 beta changelog has still not landed.

LNAV wanders. Still open. Wide, overshooting turns on simple legs have been reported since 2024 and were confirmed as tracked-but-deprioritised by a beta tester in December 2025. AVSIM's haskell, August 2025: the LNAV is "dicey. Occasionally just 'wandering off' skipping waypoints."

No VNAV on the build you get by default. Mitigated, not fixed. VNAV exists — in experimental, since roughly December 2025 for the public, earlier for testers. It works well for several regulars and quirkily for others; BragRaindrop933 has flown VNAV STARs into EGLL and called them "quite impressive", and also watched the aircraft blow through a 7,000 ft constraint. But the default install still has none, which is why the 2024 and 2025 verdicts on VATSIM readiness were uniformly negative and why FSS's own FAQ still advises against flying it online.

WASM crashes. Still open, and genuinely contested. They cluster on MCDU and flight-plan entry. PHRodgers48 in May 2026: "I have never been able to get beyond the stand with the 170-175 series, as I always encounter WASM crashes as soon as I begin entering" a route. Ashippun5411 got them "immediately, every time" after the July 2026 update. But other heavy users — mhron, flexxair — have had none across dozens of flights and point out that MSFS 2024's Sim Update 4 produced FMC-related WASM crashes across iniBuilds, PMDG and TFDi aircraft too. FSS lists remaining WASM crashes as one of two blockers for v1.0, which is a partial admission of ownership. Assign this one carefully: it is at minimum shared blame, and it is not solved.

Performance is heavy, and the fix is to turn the aeroplane off. Every cockpit screen is rendered individually. FSS's own FAQ tells you to dim the first officer's PFD and MFD to claw back frames, or lower per-display refresh caps in the EFB. That works — several users confirm it — but it is a workaround, and threads about it run from June 2024 to the present. Experiences vary enormously by system, which is a signature of an unoptimised rather than a uniformly demanding add-on.

Support routing is a maze. Mitigated. In March 2026 a customer arrived on the MSFS forums saying Aerosoft's support desk "largely has not been responsive". The answer he got from another user is the correct one and nobody should have to discover it that way: go to FSS's own Discord, and install the experimental branch, because the stable one is missing the feature you are complaining about. In the experimental branch specifically, the documentation says not to report bugs at all — a closed team of roughly 200 testers handles that.

The schedule. Still open, and it has cost FSS a lot of goodwill. Custom FMS and autopilot were a Summer 2024 target. The public experimental branch appeared around the turn of 2026. v1.0 has been "close" since May 2026. Meanwhile FSS shipped a 727-200 Freighter, a 727 passenger variant, a Super 27 expansion, a 727-100 and announced a Tupolev Tu-154M. That sequencing is what customers keep returning to — mjchernis, June 2026: they announced a new aeroplane knowing it "would trigger all of us to think 'how about finish the one we paid you for 3 years ago'." Maxuss1579 supplied the thread's most quoted line: "FSS – Forever Shipping Soon."

Performance and stability

Treat these as two separate questions, because the answers differ.

Frame rate is a known, acknowledged, workaroundable cost. The individually rendered displays are expensive; dimming the right-hand screens is the official advice and it measurably helps. Some users on modest hardware report no trouble at all — DoutorFunga runs it happily on an Xbox Series S under MSFS 2020 — while others on 4090-class machines have found it stuttery. There is no single answer, which by itself tells you the optimisation work is incomplete.

Stability is worse and less predictable. The experimental branch is officially described as crash-prone; the stable branch is calmer but does less. Between them the WASM crash is the recurring failure mode, and it is the one that ends flights. Two of the three simMarket reviewers did not mention it; the MSFS hub thread mentions it in most months of 2026. The honest reading is that a meaningful minority of owners cannot complete flights reliably, that the cause is partly external to FSS, and that FSS has named it as a v1.0 blocker rather than deflecting it.

Development responsiveness, judged fairly, is a split verdict. The experimental branch gets real updates — v0.10.31 in January 2026, v0.10.36 in the spring, v0.10.41 on 24 July 2026, a closed beta v0.10.43 on 18 August 2026 with a long fix list — and FSS engages on Discord and in the beta programme with visible energy. What it has not done in nearly three years is finish. Both of those are true and the review does not resolve them.

Who should buy it

The VFR-adjacent airliner flyer who wants to hand-fly a gorgeous regional jet on short sectors. Buy it. This profile is exactly who this aeroplane serves today: startup is quick, the systems auto-logic is genuinely modelled, the cockpit and the sound are top-tier, and the automation you do not trust is automation you were not going to use. Fly it in heading and altitude hold, work out your own descent, and you will have one of the more enjoyable aeroplanes in the sim for under €34.

The Embraer enthusiast who has been waiting for a good E-Jet in MSFS. Buy it, with the branch switched to experimental and your expectations set to "promising beta". There is no serious competition — Virtualcol's E190/195 is a different class of product entirely, X-Crafts' study-grade E-Jets are X-Plane only, and as DoutorFunga put it in August 2026, "there isn't any truly good one in any publicly available flight simulator." That is a real reason to accept a compromise.

The buyer who owns the E-Jets 170/175 already. Buy it. Same platform, same problems, but you get the HUD, steep approach mode, the bigger airframe, and — once you own both passenger packages — a free freighter. It is the best-value step in the range.

The VATSIM, IVAO or PilotEdge pilot. Do not buy it. This is the profile that should walk away, and the developer agrees: FSS's own FAQ says it does not recommend the aircraft for online flying because essential navigation functions are missing. An autopilot that may not hold a cleared level, an LNAV that skips waypoints and a non-trivial WASM crash rate are not things to inflict on a busy sector. Fly something finished and revisit this after v1.0.

The buyer who wants a study-level Embraer today. Do not buy it. Not because it will never get there, but because FSS says so itself in as many words. Buying now is buying a promise, and this developer's promises have a documented three-year slip.

Where it stands today

As of 20 August 2026 the FlightSim Studio E190/195 is the best-looking and best-sounding regional jet in Microsoft Flight Simulator, attached to flight guidance that a substantial number of its owners cannot rely on. The store ratings capture the split with unusual precision: simMarket shows 4 out of 5, but from only three ratings (one five-star, one four, one three, and the three-star review is a long, careful, disappointed one). Contrail, with a real sample, shows 3.57 across 176 votes — a number that reads exactly like an aircraft people wanted to love.

The last week has been busier than the last two years. A closed beta landed on 18 August with a long changelog. A tester reports FSS is "actually trying hard to get it out of experimental state as soon as possible", and that the native MSFS 2024 build is queued behind it. If the rewritten autopilot works, this becomes a straightforwardly recommendable aeroplane at a price that would then look generous, and the E-Jets 190/195 will have arrived roughly two and a half years late to its own launch.

Until that build ships, the calculus is unchanged from what it has been since 2024. You are paying €33.57 for a beautifully made airframe, an excellent soundscape, real systems modelling and an unfinished autoflight system, with the developer's written advice to wait if you want the finished thing. Some people have made peace with that and fly it weekly. Others have asked for their money back in public. Both groups read the same product page, and the product page told them the truth.