Developer Airfoillabs, known for their analog Cessna 172, recently shared some new previews of their upcoming 737 MAX for X-Plane 12, along with a development update centered around the FMS and autopilot.
Progress on the FMS reached a milestone with the introduction of a new arrivals page. The result is faster STAR/transition selection and constraint checks. Meanwhile, the VSD now displays the destination runway on the vertical profile, approach glideslope, minimum-altitude gates, and a cleaner terrain picture.
The rest of the MAX’s glass cockpit suite is nearing completion, with the PFD/HSI now capable of rendering essentially “all relevant symbology and data used in normal ops.” This includes failure flags, annunciators, and validity cues. The team has taken care to account for edge cases (such as fast mode changes) and tuned the annunciators to behave closely to the real units. According to Airfoillabs, this results in better scan discipline and more confidence in training raw-data approaches or partial panel scenarios.
The development update also confirmed that the 737 MAX will support Navigraph data in X-Plane 12, and the team is in contact with Navigraph to refine edge cases.
Moving on to the rest of the cockpit, the team shared that they’ve completed work on the switch animations and manipulators on the aft overhead panel, sharing a preview video in the process. Special attention was paid to enable positive, consistent clicks and natural-feeling cockpit interactions.
Airfoillabs 737 Max Custom Autopilot and Autothrottle Updates
The AFDS (Autopilot/Flight Director System) and autothrottle were also highlighted in the development update.
On the mode control panel (MCP), all switches and knobs are functional, and the MCP logic now drives the number windows. A custom, pixel-sharp font was made to ensure digits look crisp across zoom levels and VR head positions, and the team shared a video preview (included below). Given the progress, work has started on building the “brains” behind the MCP.
Both the autopilot and autothrottle systems are being developed to a study-level degree of fidelity. Airfoillabs highlighted the complexity of such a task by sharing that it involves engagement gates, capture/track algorithms, mode transitions, reversion/protection logic, and dual-channel approach/flare/rollout sequencing.
Airfoillabs’ rendition runs two coordinated mode stacks (roll and pitch) alongside an autothrottle, relying only partially on the default X-Plane autopilot system. This allowed the team to custom-build captures, transitions, protections, drive the FMA, and implement 737-style engagement rules, transitions, and reversions. This includes LNAV/VNAV, LVL CHG, VS, approach logic (LOC then G/S), dual-channel autoland, min-speed/overspeed protections, and full go-around capabilities.
To close out the development update, the team provided a brief look into what’s next for the 737’s development. They’ll be working on expanding autopilot behaviors, building out the autothrottle systems set, further refining Navigraph data edge case transitions, and continuing to tweak the cockpit backlighting, MCP clickspots, and aft overhead clickspots.
No timeline for release was provided as of the publishing of this article. To read the full update on the X-Plane.org forums, click here. Preview images included in the post are below.
