Felis Releases 747-200 Aircraft for X-Plane 11

Felis has finally released his highly anticipated Boeing 747-200 classic aircraft for X-Plane 11 following a 3 year development period. The 747 is an iconic cornerstone in the aviation industry, seeing its maiden flight in February 1969. It plays a pivotal role in the introduction of long-range international flying and is one of the most distinctive and successful aircraft model designs manufactured by Boeing, with the -200 alone accounting for nearly 400 units in the entire 747 series order book.

The 747-200 is the first major iterative upgrade model of the same fuselage length from the 747-100. Felis’ rendition accurately reflects the real world counterpart of both systems and the visual model. In similar fashion to his previous release, the Tupolev Tu-154, Felis’ latest release is developed using information and data sourced from original documents, blueprints, and the significant help from pilots and crews that worked on the real aircraft.

Felis’ 747-200 is one of the most anticipated release for X-Plane 11 in 2021 alongside the FlyJSim Q4XP, and iniBuild’s Airbus A310, the latter which was recently released to high praise. The initial release will come with a basic passenger model that is powered with Pratt & Whitney JT9D–7J engines, with additional features and possibly another powertrain coming in the near future (unconfirmed).

From the feature list, Felis has doubled down on detail. The electric system is fully simulated with all of the buses and calculations, the fuel system and the fire detection system also receiving equal attention, with the former requiring proper fuel management. Other major portions of the system such as the 4-channel hydraulic system, pneumatic system, and the fully custom autopilot with autoland functionality are all comprehensively simulated for the aircraft. There are some integration of external plugins such as the use of Saso Kiselkov’s Libradio and OpenWXR plugins to power the aircraft radios.

Visually, the users can expect a visual treat inside and out; inside is a fully modelled passenger cabin and a highly detailed cockpit with each and every button switch and knob animated and functional. On the outside, Felis’ has paid special attention to the detailing, such as one distinctive feature of the 747, the Krueger flaps on the leading edge of the wings being intricately modelled and animated true to real life. Finally, the model is coated with highly detailed texture done by none other than Origami Studios’ Dellanie Byron.

Felis wraps up the announcement by informing features that users can expect in the near future, some of which includes custom failures, VR support, and built-in shared flight and smart copilot profiles. Additional cosmetic detailing such as further animations within the cabin can be expected as well.

Here is the provided feature list:

Accurate systems:

- electric system with all its buses and current calculations

- fuel system, that requires proper fuel management

- fire detection system with dual loop sensors

- 4 channel hydraulic system

- pneumatic system with actual pressure calculations

- custom pressurization and air-conditioning system

- fully custom autopilot with autoland function

- autothrottle system separate from the autopilot with EPR limiting system

- radios are powered by Totoriko's libradio and openWXR plugins, fully integrated into aircraft's systems

Detailed modeling:

- fully modeled exterior with lots of accurate animation

- passenger cabin

- highly detailed cockpit with each button, switch and knob functional

Electronic Flight Bag:

- fuel and load calculators

- refueling and load managers

- ground service controls

- INS helper to align and manage flightplans

- performance calculator

Fully custom Delco Carousel IV-A Inertial Navigation System (CIVA INS)

- 3 CDU units works separately 

- triple-mix mode

- REMOTE function to populate waypoints and DME info

- single and dual DME update function

- fully integrated into aircraft system, no separate plugins required

Upcoming features:

- VR support

- Shared Flight and SmartCopilot profiles

- LTN-92 nav system

- custom failures

- more details and animations in cabin

The aircraft is priced at $70, oddly, the product page at the time of writing *has an impressive price markup of $747,000, still a bargain! Purchase the aircraft here.

*Update: its now showing $70

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