The crew behind the Magknight 787 have just finished up their presentation onstage at Flight Sim Show in Cosford, UK, showcasing some of the goodies they have in store for the next update which is coming soon.

Mariano Gonzalez was the first to take the stage, giving us all some insight into the type of work he does on the project in addition to what the team as a whole have achieved since the release of the Magknight 787 last year.

The head developer made it very clear that custom systems were a focus of the aircraft, with a fully custom electronic flight bag already added to the aircraft, which will be joined by a full flight management system in the near future.

We were then introduced to Alexander Beavil, who is the head systems developer of the aircraft. He further introduced us to the custom systems implemented in the plane since the release of the Magknight 787 "Aviator's Edition" in December 2018. Flight model improvements were also touched on as a major point of focus since last year, as he ran through the changes from 1.0.0 all the way up to the present day, on 1.3.0.

Alexander then gave way back to Mariano, who was on to discuss the future of the 787. The main talking point was of course the long awaited new exterior fuselage model, which adds working doors and improves on the quality and accuracy of the model immensely, according to the developer.

An all new 3D cabin model is also in the works, though only the economy class seats were on show during the presentation. Here are the previews provided at the event:

The next big topic covered was sound, a feature that the developer admitted was somewhat lacking in the current version. He unveiled that AudiobirdXP, creator of the immensely popular 737 Ultimate sound set, was onboard with the project and had created a brand new FMOD sound pack for the plane.

They provided a preview video of the spool up sound, though we've split the clip in half due to length. The first clip, viewable here, covers the initial spool of the engines. The second, viewable here, covers the noise of the reversers and a groundroll clip.

As with the 737 Ultimate, Magknight also plan on bringing cabin announcements to their plane, with up to 33 sounds customisable by would-be flight attendents. These are manipulated by livery, the developer outlining it as possible to have a custom announcements pack for say, British Airways, and then a separate pack as a "catch all" for other airlines.

We were also introduced to the CPDLC system, which is in the works, simulating the link between controllers and pilots in the real world. The team are in talks with VATSIM and POSCON for compatibility with their networks, in addition to others not named during the presentation.

In addition to these exciting new features, the team have also made clear the 787 will have fuel jettison capabilities, which is a more complex feature than many may think by virtue of the Dreamliner's auto-dump feature, which lets the pilot simply select the amount of fuel required for the aircraft to make a safe landing, wherein the system dumps the fuel automatically.

Alexander then touched on his pet project: the pressurisation system. We didn't catch much on this particular feature, though he gave a soft release date of before the end of the year.

A 787 first was up next, with the addition of integrated checklists coming soon. The Dreamliner was the first aircraft to incorporate this system and as such the Magknight 787 will soon replicate this capability.

We were then introduced to Matt Hayward, more popularly known as MattDesigns, who was to run us through flight dynamics on the 787, giving some insight into the differences between the GEnX and Trent 1000 engines. The latter of which, made by Rolls Royce, would soon be added to the aircraft package.

Alexander once again took to the stage to introduce Omar Alam, who is developing the highly anticipated custom flight management system, introducing us to his work in absentia. He affirmed that the system will be capable of VNAV and LNAV functions, in addition to being able to fly all instrument approaches at major airports.

Alexander then pulled up a few screenshots of various routes with the in-development system, including an RNAV departure out of Manchester as well as an entry to and maintaining a holding pattern. Though absent for his part of the presentation, Alam answered questions via the group's online chatroom on Discord after the fact, where he is simply known as "Omar" whilst getting some rest in his Canadian home.

Not all of these features will be available immediately, though, and so as a way of tiding users over until the release of the fully custom FMC, the team are releasing an "interim CDU", which will accompany the 1.4.0 update this week. The interim CDU will include realistic ident pages at launch, followed by accurate nav radio, fix and progress pages in the remaining 1.4.0 run.

Lastly for the new features is an improved autothrottle, which is capable of derating. A new throttle limiter is also almost ready for roll-out.

The big question: when? This was swiftly answered by Alexander, who announced that 1.4.0 was to release this week. It will include the following features covered in the presentation:

• Interim CDU
• New autothrottle
• Throttle limiter
• FMOD sound set by AudiobirdXP
• New fuselage model
• 3D Cabin model
• PA announcements

The other features of the presentation, including the Rolls Royce Trent 1000 engines, evacuation slides, air conditioning/pressurisation, fuel jettison and checklists were all labelled as "soon".

You can find Magknight on Discord here.

Images sourced from the livestream of Dirkadurka - he will be livestreaming the entire event over the next 48 hours, so tune in for more X-Plane news from JustFlight's FlightSimShow over on his Twitch page!