Great news this weekend for airliner simmers! Following the premiere of the first trailer video for the PMDG 737, and after learning that Leonardo’s Maddog MD-80 is now in beta, there’s an exciting new jetliner announcement coming directly from Just Flight and Bluebird Simulations: the Boeing 757!
Bluebird Simulations, the newly-formed team that is responsible for the development of this 757, revealed that this project has been in the works for several months. This team is made up of a lead programmer with over 20 years of experience, a real-world pilot working on the flight model, and two talented visual artists creating the virtual model of the aircraft, using hundreds of pictures and documents with the goal to bring an authentic version of the B757 into Microsoft Flight Simulator.
Speaking of authenticity, Bluebird Simulations is being very honest upfront, stating that their goal is not to create a very-complex airplane, but rather a “mid-level” experience that can still provide several additional layers of complexity when compared to the default airliners. This may leave the most hardcore simmers a little disheartened, but we’d argue that there’s a place in MSFS for a good-looking airliner that reaches a certain level of fidelity in terms of functionality, and doesn’t cost a fortune. Remember, there’s always PMDG to bring a high-fidelity 757 to this platform.
In any case, Bluebird Simulations says their goal is to create an immersive experience and will reveal more details about systems’ complexity in future updates. They did say, however, that certain things such as VNAV are important to the team.
It’s great timing to announce the 757 for MSFS, since it’s now exactly 40 years since it made its first flight. Don’t expect to recreate that flight anytime soon, though, as Bluebird is currently pointing to a release sometime in 2023. It will be a long period of waiting, but the creators promise monthly development updates to keep people interested and in the know about the team’s progress.
For now, there’s an initial selection of images that showcase the current state of the external model and flight deck. The latter is looking particularly impressive, clearly in a more advanced stage of development, with impressive modeling and night lighting. Note that these are images of a work-in-progress airplane, so everything you see is subject to change as Bluebird moves forward in the development cycle.
This project is naturally joining our list of aircraft in development for MSFS, so you can count on our coverage of future development updates as the 757 slowly comes to life. Stay tuned!
