The Boeing 737 is a popular medium-range, narrow body commercial passenger jet aircraft. The Boeing 737-500 was launched in 1987. With the same fuselage length of the 737-200, the 737-500 was a modern replacement of the old 737-200s with a host of new improvements like more fuel efficient CFM56 turbofan engines, redesigned wing with improved aerodynamics and flight deck improvements.
Feelthere is a flightsim developer of many high quality add-on packages for Microsoft's Flight Simulator. The Boeing 737-500 'Pilot in command' is a very detailed and realistic representation of the second 737 generation. The exterior model is very detailed and all surfaces like flaps, spoilers, etc. are moving realistically. Liveries are available on the Wilco Publishing website and can be downloaded for free. Most of the liveries are very well done as well as the base textures of the wings and other parts.
The 2d panel looks exactly like the real classic Boeing 737 cockpit. Many systems are modeled, like TCAS, GPWS, Weather Radar, CDU and even the auto land function. The two EFIS screens (EADI and EHSI) can be expanded by clicking on them, which also works in the virtual cockpit. With the small icons on the top-left corner of the screen, you can bring up the pedestal, radio panel, overhead, cdu, flaps panel, IRS panel, etc.
In the virtual cockpit, you'll find high quality textures and 100% clickable buttons and handles. Some knobs however are 2d textures.
Also part of the virtual cockpit: A detailed passenger cabin with wings/engines visible thru the windows. To keep the framerate within acceptable levels on various pc configurations, you can choose from 4 different models: 1) Standard, with 2d panel + virtual cockpit + passenger cabin and wingview. 2) 2d panel + wingview. 3) 2d panel only. 4) virtual cockpit only.
The flight dynamics are excellent and the autopilot is working perfectly. A very neat option is that you can load the FS IFR flight plan into the CDU with one click. Then you only have to fill in the data of the other pages and your auto flight system is ready to go. Of course, if you prefer to enter the flight plan yourself, you can do that too. Usually, when flying IFR, you follow the altitude instructions of the ATC. In that case you might hear an annoying horn and get the message 'RESET MCP ALT' on the CDU. It means that you have to reset the altitude on the autopilot panel. Doing that does not silence the horn, you have to go to the overhead panel and find a button with the text 'ALT HORN CUTOUT' and click on it. Now the horn will not sound again. That warning horn is just an example of the realism of this package. Many other sounds are included, like the realistic pitch trim sound that you hear all the time during autoflight. The engine noise inside the cockpit is great, although the external engine sound could be better.
Experienced flight simmers might not need to read the 60 pages PDF manual entirely, most of them shouldn't have any problems starting up and flying the aircraft. For beginners however, there is a lot of useful information within the manual, which is written by a former commercial pilot. Unfortunately, the manual is a bit brief. For example, detailed information of the CDU and how to program it is missing. It seems that people who are just upgrading from the default aircraft have to look elsewhere to find tutorials about classic 737 systems. A configuration utility can be used to set various variables like weight units, graphics, thrust rating, IRS align time, sound volume, startup configuration (e.g. cold & dark), key assingments, etc. Unfortunately, there is no load manager or fuel planner, so you have to calculate your flights yourself.
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a patch has been released to address the dark cockpit issue. see discussion of the issue here -
https://www.iemit.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=8799
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