I’ll be the first to admit this is not your typical Movie Monday, even though it runs more than an hour. For the past several years, Precision Manuals Design Group, also known as PMDG, has been at work creating the world’s most extensive desktop simulation of the Next Generation Boeing 737 for Microsoft Flight Simulator X. Final pricing and release dates are not yet available, but with its release to beta status the project is finally nearing completion.
UPDATE: PMDG announced this morning that software will be release on or before August 4.
The project, known as the NGX, has been developed as a product officially licensed by Boeing and has spared no detail, both visually and technically. One of the company’s beta testers, Angle of Attack, has created a fly-through of the 737’s virtual cockpit, highlighting the nearly uncountable number of features built in to the simulation. The AoA video is available in HD to really show off the level of depth and detail designed into the simulation. I would challenge 737 pilots, Boeing engineers and maintenance personnel to find things that might be missing, but I have a feeling you might be hard-pressed to do so.
AoA also created a considerably shorter walk-around of the external model, though if you’re looking to get up close with the 737, Boeing’s own gigapixel walk-around of a United Airlines 737-900ER with the updated CFM56-7BE engine and drag clean up is well worth your time.
This post was originally published to the internet between 2007 and 2012. Links, images, and embedded media from that era may no longer function as intended.
This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.