The developer AirFoilLabs, well-known especially for their Cessna 172 for X-Plane has released a new development update last Friday covering the new things in their upcoming Boeing 737 MAX for Laminar Research’s flight simulator. The development update has been shared through the X-Plane.org forums.
The development update mostly focuses on the electrical systems of the aircraft, and that is one of the four fully functional systems found in the add-on. The other three are master caution, inertial reference system and hydraulics. The electrical system now covers full distribution with three generators, ground power, two batteries, three transformer rectifier units and the standby power subsystem is also complete. The AC/DC metering panel will also show accurate real-time readouts.
Speaking of the master caution warning system, the caution lamps and annunciators, as well as overhead caution lights, are fully implemented, and fault detection is based on the actual component state. Thus, it is not only a script that activates randomly.
The hydraulics have a similar real-time simulation philosophy. All valves, ducts and tanks are individually simulated on Systems A, B and the standby system. AirFoilLabs has implemented the inertial reference system (the IRS) very fast, just over four days. There is functional motion detection, power model, position validation, and all the other things that should recreate the real-world 737 MAX counterpart in X-Plane 12.
The radios, NAV, ADF and the transponder are now functional as well. These systems share a single persistence layer, with 3350 lines of additional code. According to the developer, this is one of the most complex parts of the aircraft. All three radio panel stations are completely functional, and VHF navigation control can be used from either side of the cockpit. Both ADF receivers are also simulated.
Speaking of the EFB, the SimBrief integration is completely finished, which means that you can dispatch and uplink your SimBrief flights without any issues to this aircraft. All of that is accompanied by a fast, moving map, getting data from OpenStreetMap. The weather radar is now also working in this Boeing 737 MAX for X-Plane 12, drawing weather data to your navigation display. With this weather radar, you can also change the tilt and modes of the radar.
The VNAV is still being worked on with new Navigraph navigation data and magnetic deviation data. New calculations for economic climbs are being created as well. Flight phase logic has generally received a major overhaul during the development time.
Lastly, AirFoilLabs has shared a short system status of the aircraft. The developer still needs to finish parts of the VHF and NAV panels, the ADF, weather radar, vertical and lateral navigation. Unfortunately, no estimate on the next development update or a possible release date has been shared. You can also read more about AirFoilLabs in one of our previous articles here.
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