The International X-Plane Engineering Group has released its first update to their 737 Classic aircraft in some time today with the launch of a new version as touted in a preview video put out last week.

Developer Jan Vogel began the 30-minute clip by promising that subsequent updates will not have such a long waiting time, as last February it ticked over to two years since v1.21 was released.

The update was first hinted at a few weeks ago by a post from Tom Kyler, who said that the new version was primarily a quality of life upgrade and works with X-Plane 10 and 11.

Flight model changes have been made allowing for the "utmost realism", and the developer now recommends pilots use the aircraft with X-Plane's experimental flight model enabled for the best experience.

A number of other bugs have also been patched - for an exhaustive rundown of the changes, see our article from earlier this week. Alternatively, here's a truncated feature list:

Bug fixes:

• Stopped "brakes" helping with turns if no rudder pedals installed
• Fixed turnoff lights lighting up the MCP
• Fixed Standby Power logic
• Disabled engine reverse thrust when fire handle pulled
• Removed option for "show vortices" which doesn't work with XP11
• Fixed stall warning test not working on ground
• Fixed external view not accessible if watching a saved replay

Improvements:

• Adjusted flightmodel to work best with the "new experimental flight model" option enabled (disabled works too, but less accurate)
• Switched ground model to default for XP11 users (better handling of engine failures)
• Adjusted "runway shake" effect to not move viewpoint too much
• Adjusted sensitivity for altitude and vertical speed manipulators when mouse-dragging
• Increased intensity of landing, taxi and runway turnoff lights
• Several updates/polishing of cockpit 3D (smoothing, better material, etc.)
• Improved import ability for different company route formats
• Updated shape of optional "winglets"
• Removed logo light lens if winglets enabled (it was still peeking through in places)
• Updated mesh of engines and fan animations
• Improved representation of flight controls (avoid spoilers popping up), gear lever animation and weird sounds in cockpit during replays
• Enabled basic "hot start" functionality if fuel introduced at (way) too low N2
• Improved windmilling start behaviour (now works for lower N2s)

Additions:

• Added grab and move around flashlights(white) and maplights(red)
• Added mousewheel support to all twistable manipulators
• Added TAI ON WITH TAT ABOVE 10C warning to FMC
• Added "altitude reminder dials" on CPTs and FO yoke
• Added option to disable/assign button to "pop out" IXEG menu
• Added option to disable/assign button to "view presets" IXEG menu
• Added option to increase/decrease EHSI preview popups
• Added option to totally remove EHSI preview popups
• Added option slider to adjust yoke height
• Engines now windmilling on ground if wind strong enough
• Added default support (and option) for AviTab integration

To get your hands on ths update, visit the X-Aviation store and re-download the package from the account page.

If you're not an IXEG 737 Classic owner, you can purchase the aircraft for $74.95 USD from the same webpage.