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Overview & Background

The Boeing 737, whether it be the original classic or more recent NG (Next Generation series, that being the 700, 800 and 900 models) is regarded as one of those aircraft that has certain characteristics about it that will allow it to exist for many generations to come. The Initial 737-100 and 200 variants were regarded as “The baby Boeing” by 707 pilots at the time. Little did they know that the Boeing 737 would grow to become almost as big as the 707 in terms of passenger size, and also exceed the 707 and become the world’s best selling commercial jet, here we take a look at the middle generation (737-300/400/500) offered by Wilco/Feelthere.

Using the current installer, which was build 2b at time of writing, was simple and straight forward, with your personal key code all that is required to complete the install process. There is one key catch with downloading the file from the Wilco site, you are limited to a maximum of 3 downloads, and when you exceed that you are locked out and this requires you to contact Wilco and ask for a reset. I will say that the one time I need to do this the team at Wilco were very helpful, so while it is something to keep in mind to save you the hassle, it shouldn’t pose a major issue if you find yourself in this position.

The amount of free liveries available for this series of 737’s is huge, and all of them are off a high quality. These are all modeled of real world airlines and cover all three models (-300, -400, -500). The stock installer from Wilco only installs Boeings house colors, where as the product available from JustFlight comes will almost all the textures included as part of the installer. This does take away from the effort of downloading the liveries separately, but may take up more hard drive space with textures you don’t actually want or are not so interested in. My only gripe in this department though is that there were no Pacific region textures, an example being neither Qantas or Air New Zealand are included. Fortunately this has been covered by some great freeware re-painters, including ARNZ’s own Tim Clark who did the Air New Zealand texture featured in this review.

On initial glace it is a good looking 737, everything is there and the iconic “Squashed” / Flat bottomed cowling on the CFM engines look the part. However if you stare too long at it you start to realize there is something a little out, not one of those things that looks completely wrong, but it makes you look twice and scratch your head a little. The best way I can describe this on all three models is that the fuselage seams a bit big or fat, it doesn’t seem to have that slender shape of the 737, and it almost appears too stubby.

When comparing to other 737 models such as the Vistaliner’s freeware model and the Ariane Design 737, both those models mentioned win out on looks, but the Wilco model is far from the worst you’ll find, whether it be payware or freeware.

Most of the 737-300’s operated by Air New Zealand here in New Zealand have the self deployable air stares equipped to them, this feature is not modeled in this version of the 737, however I have heard that most airlines worldwide do not have this feature so I can’t really complain on this point.

In regards to the other models that are included, this is a real selling point, to have the -300, -400 and -500 all included in one package for the same price is worth it’s weight in gold. This is especially true considering the differences between them are rather distinctive. An example of this is the two over wing emergency exits and the longer fuselage on the – 400, which are key defining points of the different real world models, and a represented well here. Personally I think that overall the -400 looks the best, as being longer takes away from the slight “overweight” look I mentioned earlier.

One last thing to note here, looking closely at all 3 models of the FSX version have still compiled been compiled with the FS9 SDK, meaning it is still not truly FSX native. SO if you love bump mapping etc then you will be disappointed, because as we know this advance type of graphic feature is simply not possible in FS2004. There is a Windows Vista upgrade available free of charge, however I don’t run this version of Windows so am am not sure if this has changed anything.

VC and Panel

I think this is the main selling point for this particular product, the 2D panel is right up there with the best in my opinion, and certainly on par with the previously reviewed PMDG 747 and Level-D 767. The look of it is true to that of the “Glass Guppy” generation of 737’s, with the partial analogue and part glass setup. The overhead is well modeled with all the standard functions you would expect i.e. APU, IRS, air bleed etc. There option is also availability to start the aircraft in a “cold and dark” setup which adds to the realism and allows you to work through each system to get the aircraft powered up prior to flight. The Flight Management Computer (FMC) is another winner, with good functionality and database updates available from Navigraph.

Now onto the VC, unfortunately when compared to the 2D panel this is another aspect of the Wilco 737 where this product takes a hit. In visual appearance the Virtual Cockpit simply doesn’t compare to comparable products, and although the VC has most of the functionality that the 2D panel has, the switches and dials etc appear flat and drawn on, there is very little in terms of nice 3D modeling here, which is a shame.

However the Wilco 737 earns credibility back in the area of the 3D in the virtual cabin. This is excellent and has you positioned about mid way back in the economy class section which allows you to get a good look around and out the windows and over the wing. The fold down screens display actual flight information such as speed and ETA which is very cool. Personally however I would have preferred a better VC as opposed to a virtual cabin, as flying the aircraft is the main priority and the reason I would choose to purchase this product.

Flight Model - Flying the Baby Boeing

One of the strong points of the 737, and this product overall, is the flight models used on all three variants. The aircraft is easy to handle on the ground and is very responsive in the air, which based on what I have heard is true to form. A flight editor is installed with the aircraft that allows you to change between the 18, 20 & 22,000 pound CFM engines, I felt this was a nice touch that adds the ability to more realistically model different airlines from around the world.

Any real world aircraft spotter will tell you that the Boeing 737 is famous for its ability to perform a fast and steep climb out on departure, and to replicate that using this model is both realistic (from what I can tell having only ever been a punter down the back) and fun to perform. As well as this the 737 is a highly popular aircraft in New Zealand and Australia for it’s ability to get in and out of difficult airports, and I have done the tricky VOR DME circling approach into NZQN (Queenstown) a number of times and the Wilco/Feelthere flight model lived up to my expectations of what it would be like to fly a big jet into a small airport.

As far as the difference goes between the different models, I honestly really cant tell, they do however have different .air flies so I would imagine they will perform slightly differently, but this may be a case of you actually need to know what performance differences you would expect to see before you can actually see them.