After a string of progress reports, Airfoillabs has taken to social media, sharing the latest on its 737 MAX for X-Plane 12. The update focuses on systems work, cockpit modelling, and the steps toward a custom Autopilot and Autothrottle, providing insight into how the ambitious project is shaping up.

Starting off, the FMS has seen a round of quality-of-life tweaks since the last update. The Arrivals page now streamlines STAR and transition selection, while constraint checks have been refined to be more straightforward and less error-prone. 

We also saw previews of the Vertical Situation Display, adding various practical cues, such as destination runway on profile, approach glideslope and minimum-altitude gates, plus a cleaner terrain picture, to support descent planning.

Meanwhile, the PFD/HSI are reported to be close to feature-complete. Airfoillabs says the suite now renders the core symbology used in normal ops, including validity flags and annunciators, with edge cases tuned. Hence, the flags appear, and clear, in a more predictable way.

The 737 MAX will also support third-party navigation data, with Airfoillabs noting ongoing work with Navigraph. This integration brings worldwide procedures and navaids into X-Plane 12, updated with each AIRAC cycle. This means cleaner routing, with fewer gaps, particularly on complex SIDs and STARs.

Ultimately, this work should ensure consistency with other Navigraph-enabled tools, and a more predictable experience, when flying published procedures.

Two cockpit art milestones are also in place. The aft overhead panel now has all animations and manipulators implemented, with guards, detents, and backlighting, tuned for consistent interaction, in 2D and VR. 

Animations and UI logic for the Mode Control Panel are also complete, including a custom-built font, with this work serving as the front-end for the custom AFDS, currently underway.

That AFDS, the Autopilot and Flight Director System, is currently moving through intensive development. Airfoillabs explains that they are developing a custom system, complete with an integrated autothrottle.

Planned functions include LNAV, VNAV, Level Change, V/S, localiser and glideslope capture, dual-channel autoland, speed protections, and go-around logic. The team describes this process as iterative, with captures, transitions, and reversions being expanded over multiple passes, with the eventual goal of offering study-level realism.

Looking ahead, Airfoillabs plans to refine the AFDS further, focusing on smoother LNAV and VNAV captures, approach handling, and system protections. Work is also underway on expanding the autothrottle, adding mode safeguards, and improving throttle lever behaviour.

Alongside this, the team continues quality checks on navigational data, as well as polishing cockpit details, such as backlighting and switch feel, to ensure consistency across both 2D and VR.

For the full details, you can read Airfoillab’s numerous blog posts on the X-Plane.Org Forum, and visit the product page here. No release date has been announced, however progress seems to be moving along nicely.

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