How much taste is there for the 737 classics

Discussion Hub Aircraft
1

How much desire and taste is there for the classic series 733, 734 and the 735s to come to msfs..???

With everyone is craving retro things at the moment, and especially with the likes of the 732, 727s, 707s and the A300s in the digital “production” line (I’m guessing more to come if those top 742s ever come out) and with the fatigue of modern “magenta navigation” airliners setting in…

Is there much market for those classic 737s and what relevance is there with many users on here…

I guess the 737-300 for one,.
With the numbers built and how many, now exclusive A320 operators, that used to operate these birds and how global stretching the 737-300 was…

Also…

The entire 737 classic family has that perfect mix of steam gauges, screens/navigation visuals and being able to perform most of our complex sids and stars, especially RNP approaches.. (air nz had a small subfleet that was RNP approved into Queenstown…) As well as being able to do good old school classic approaches using the needles…
Then of course…
The amount of missions one can do, especially with the 300…, and the range of real life operators one can perform those missions with (flightsim.to would absolutely go nuts with liveries…)

I don’t hear much about them and with both ends of the 737 wick burning , especially regarding the original and the current day 737s being developed…
Are these globally successful classics being kinda forgotten about??
Has any developers made them in the past and what market is there today…

I guess, and many would say…
The 737 genre family, much in the same way with the a320… has been more than done and many folk are just wanting something that’s not “just another 737” or “just another” A320…dash 8 would be a great example…

I do hope they make their way onto the market…
Even though some may say… Oh it’s just another 737…
These classics do have the perfect combination of magenta/pdf, steam/needle navigation and most importantly… Variety of real world missions with a vast array of real world operators that used to and still operate these aircraft today…
I do feel this whole family as a whole, arguably the most successful 737 family ever done… It has in a way… Been forgotten about and that’s not just the msfs community…

EDIT…

Let’s see/show what desire/want is out there for a 737 and why someone, especially pmdg and or JF or another developer wanting to hit the digital jackpot…

The 737 classics and more specifically…the 300 has to be one of the most successful aircraft in the world and also has to be one of the only aircraft type that has not seen any form of mid fidelity of any form since… Possibly since msfs was first born…

The classics would have to be some of the most versatile swiss pocket knifes of the aviation world…
The massive global range of airliners that operated these birds and the various mission types these airlines used/still use these birds is also huge.
From oceanic flights through to your marginal routes, business charters and what is now used as a freighter..
The versatility and range of this aircraft is massive and the potential for this bird to be massive in what is the most impressive simulation of all time…

I do hope someone makes this plane..

4 Likes
2

This 737 looks pretty tasty !!

2 Likes
3

I also think a 737-300 would be fun. I agree that it’s sort of the perfect balance between steam gauges and modern equipment, kind of like the MD-80 series or the A300/A310.

There is one attribute that some people might not like: it’s the slowest member of the 737 family, with a maximum speed of Mach 0.74. But hey, maybe most people wouldn’t mind that.

2 Likes
4

I think the classics are easier to manage if they are general aviation (read flying low and slow) rather than turbojet. As it is, the airliner models we enjoy today are all designed and certified for a flight crew of two. We do the best we can in the sim and certainly some hardware can help! Even with all the automation at hand, right on up to auto land, we still do not have a Pilot Monitoring, even an AI PM to pick up the slack. This kinda works because of all the modern automation, whether it is to one’s taste or not, at least it is possible to muddle through most flights!

I love the classic 707, but am I interested in having one in the sim? Um, no. Who is going to cover the Flight Engineer’s role? The more faithful the model, the higher the workload is going to be, so it becomes a matter of accepting a simplified model that may earn jeers from the flight line, right? For my flight sim dollars, I will buy realistic classic GA models and pass on any turbojets and the complex four engined airliners/bombers and the like. Gotta find a happy place amid all the complexity that going back in time entails; task overloaded is not that place. Now maybe if we had some useful AI crew members to take up the slack so I could sit back and really be a Captain, well, maybe someday LOL!

6 Likes
5

Basically this is the reason I haven’t gotten the 727 or F28. More work than they’d be worth lol. Now, something like a metroliner, 1900, or something like that would be cool. A certified single pilot plane with enough work to keep you busy, all while still being manageable.

2 Likes
6

The jf f28 is a walk in the park. There is NOTHING to do in flight except retune vor every 100 miles not even that if you use GPS.
There is a switch you activate after take off and before landing and then of course flaps and gear. The tablet will get your plane ready for TO if you don’t want start yourself but it’s so simple tbh.
I mean, turn on battery, turn on apu, set nav, altitude/cruise pressure setting , start engines then fly.
Oh and arm the lift dumper button before to/land also.
That’s it pretty much

1 Like
7

I would really like the 737 classic versions - Even in classic there are two versions (one very early version 100/200 and later 300/400/500). I would definitely be up for both versions. 737-100/200 featuring old analogue instruments without the all new fancy GPS gadgets. Just pure radio navigation and dead reckoning although I am not sure whether early versions were equipped with INS or not (Possibly they were equipped). However these airplanes for single pilot can be a challenge as workload is significantly greater (this airplanes were designed to be operated by 2 crew members).

Later models 300/400/500 were equipped with flight management systems but still featuring old gauges.

2 Likes
8

While that looks good. It is not a 737. Maybe a 707 or DC-8. But the 737 only has 2 engines.

1 Like
9

I would love to see a B737-200 as well as a B727-100/200. Not a freighter
version but passenger. I used them in FS 2004 and they were not any harder to use than the planes in MSFS 2020.

2 Likes
10

This is a topic is perfect. I used to really enjoy, I think it was in FS 2004, where you had the 707 (?) with no FMS or any form of GPS. All that nav skill is totally gone now, it has become a game of programming where you push buttons on the FMC until it gives you the route you want, then sit back and watch the computer fly. Calculating how to get into the ILS approach using old-school steam gauges and VORs is what I miss. That’s why I still sometimes fly the older piston engine planes like Constellation and of course the DC3 with it’s hard to read gauges. And I often fly the C152 in horrible simulated weather conditions for the same reason. Anyone remember the mission “Whiteout”? Incredible fun.

Regarding the increased workload in the pre-GPS/FMS models, I found that with sufficient planning, noting all the information needed for each waypoint and having that easily visible then as long as you don’t get a diversion and would have to replot your courses, the increased workload (remember, this is a game) is really what it’s all about IMHO. If you do get overwhelmed, there is always Active Pause - you are actually taking the role of co-pilot while you pause - that’s not to be thought of as cheating on your immersion in the game.

1 Like
11

I would love a 737 Classic for MSFS. We haven’t had a good one in a very long time at least outside of Xplane, and I think the variety of versions would be a strong point if someone decided to make one.

Some of the first -300 were all steam gauges, all later models were EFIS. And there’s the regular -300/-400/-500, plus the 300 and 500 retrofitted with winglets, and then the 300F and 400F of which a lot of samples are still flying today.

2 Likes
12

Personally, the only reason I don’t fly heavies like I did in FS9 is all of the required preflight time. I don’t mind having to use an APU to get bleed air for starting - in fact I’d love to have something like that. But it’s the fact that everything that big these days has a “fargin”* FMS that has to be at least partially programmed before you can use the rest of the systems. This is why I stick to smaller business jets with Garmin panels - I can just jump in, fire up the avionics, punch in a -D> airport, light the fires and go fly.

  • If you know the source of that word, we can be friends! :wink:
1 Like
13

I pretty much like the classic 737-300 or even the -500 with blended winglets. The -500 is and was used for VIP transport which I like. There also is the -600 with mostly the same dimensions but to me the wing looks put of proportion as it’s span was increased for the NGs.

I can also agree I don’t like the earlier jets with CIVA INS navigation and a full fletched engineer panel - it’s just too much to do if you try to manage it all and too less to do if you enable a virtual assistant for the engineer part. In both ways it’s simply unrealistic which would change whenever we could share the cockpit with two other persons.

I’m also patiently waiting for the Avro Jets from Just Flight for this reason and Blackbirds 737-200 as it’s basically the Norlinor version which also is a strange but interesting mix of old tech with a fully capable glass cockpit (unfortunately without a “proper” FMS but likely a Garmin at least).

1 Like
14

That’s funny :joy::joy::joy:

15

I know the 737 has been quite done, with the max coming out thus basically completing the next gen 737 family and with pmdg going on to say what many are thinking..
that there is a bit of 737 fatigue setting in…

But…

I do feel that the classics are something iconic, something that is same same but incredibly different from the next gen.. With the perfect balance of its steam gauges and pdf display and the actual ability to perform your classic VOR/NDB navigation/approaches and your most advanced lnav/vnav…
Also…
Like mentioned..
The global footprint and with it, the massive nostalgia this aircraft would have, especially for many major airliners that operated the clasics, most, especially Europe, being the last 737 type operated before transitioning to the A320…
I feel, even with the 737 being well represented…
I honestly feel that a top developer that does a 737 classic would be hitting the jackpot… Especially a retirement fund it is a small team..

2 Likes
16

I cant remember exactly what movie but pretty sure farging was followed by icehole? I remember making this joke often many years back.

17

“Johnny Dangerously” - great comedy!

1 Like
18

Yes I remember!

19

Y’all aware that Blackbird Sims is doing a 737-200? They were originally just going to do the glass version, but were convinced to include the steam gauge version as well. Check out their “State of the Sim” thread. If you scroll down from this post you’ll see their change of heart…

When will it come out? Who knows? But there’s somebody working on it.

737-300? I don’t think anyone has signed up for it yet.

I will say, I purchased the Redwings Connie, ouch, that’s a lot of work to fly. More work to learn than I have to fly, at least currently. So I understand peoples’ concerns there. (I don’t regret the purchase, but, I wish I had the time to learn how to fly it.)

1 Like
20

Well at least the 737-200 is a 2 pilot aircraft and significantly easier to get into than a Connie. A lot of similarities with modern 737s that people have been flying and I am sure most people will get the hang of it in a few days of flying it.

1 Like