One of the most popular airliners of all time, the 747-400, has long lacked a decent entry in X-Plane. Besides the one included by default, there have been few attempts to develop a fully functional -400.

The latest bid, made by Daniel and the YesAviation team, appears to be progressing well, as the freeware project moves past conceptualisation, where many have failed before.

According to YesAviation, development is starting to ramp up on all fronts - this includes systems-side, of which a preview video was released today. It's producer, who goes by the name "aeroplane" demonstrates the use of the Performance Initialisation page in the 747's FMC, sporting the iconic green typeface.

In addition to this, when approached for further details, the team also provided Threshold with a video explaining aspects of the Queen of the Skies' hydraulic system, some of which have already been added to their rendition.

The developer has confirmed that they've enlisted the services of one Totedemac, who worked on a very popular package for the ToLiss A319. He will be starting work on cockpit interior textures very soon, in addition to a brand new exterior model - a combined effort in the team.

Despite many drawing parallels to Zibo and his uber-popular 737 series, when asked, Daniel and the team maintain they don't want to be known as "Zibo for the 747", rather, they want to be know as their own entity.

You can learn more about the YesAviation 747 in their Discord server, an invite to which you can find here.