With a production run of 22 years and over 1,100 orders, the Boeing 737-200 made up nearly one third of all 737s ordered. Through the many versions of Microsoft Flight Simulator there have been only a handful of designers to take up the job of designing the 737-200. Now with the introduction of Flight Simulator 2002, Terry Gaff has taken the time and effort to designing this wonderful aircraft.

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Rear shot showing detail

front show showing detail.

The Terry Gaff 737-200 comes with a 4.5MB zip that includes: Installation instructions, a few pictures, and a wonderful model of the 737-200. Inside the 737's folder you will find a brief history and helpful information on this aircraft. The installation instructions are brief but easy for an experienced flight simmer to install. With that being said, let us move on to the look and feel of Terry's 737.

How does it look outside?

The exterior of this aircraft is nicely detailed. The overall shape and dimensions are exact when compared to photos of the real 737-200. Terry's 737 comes with many features including: Moving control surfaces, flight and ground spoilers, rolling wheels, steerable nose wheel, landing light beams, 'Photo Real' High Resolution day and night textures, un-synchronized strobe and beacon lights, transparent flight deck windows, 3D compressor blades, and working thrust reverses—all of which now being standard features on current freeware releases.

Test System Gateway Esential PIII 733 WindowsME 256 Megs RAM Intel 16MB graphics driver 44X CD ROM Sound Blaster Live Sidewinder Precision Pro Joystick Gateway 17" Monitor Flying Time: 10 hours over 3 days

Doing a scan around the aircraft in flight simulator I found most of the features to be well modeled. The rolling wheels are now a feature that freeware developers are just touching on and Terry has modeled his wheels very well; they give a smooth and non-choppy look when spinning. However, the wheels look a little skinny compared to real 737 photos. They should be thicker so that when the gear is retracted they conform to the body of the aircraft. I also noticed that the intake borders are too sharp. They should have more of a round/smooth look to them.

The beacon and strobe lights are something I think could be improved in later versions. They have a "Flight Sim 95" starburst look to them and compared to the real aircraft and other Flight Sim aircraft models they look "out of date." When doing an individual light check I noticed that when you turn off the strobe lights the beacon lights burn steady instead of flashing.

Flight characteristics

With my 737-200 performance charts in hand I was ready to see what this aircraft could do. Taxing was nice, with 50,000kgs ramp weight (including fuel) it held a 15kts taxi with 38% N1, and it handled very well while taxing. Once on the runway I started my takeoff roll. Going by actual 737-200 reference charts our V speeds with 50,000kgs and 5 degree flaps should be: V1-131, Vr-131, and V2-139. Upon reaching V1 and V2, the nose lifted and we were airborne at 131kts. On climb out, everything was going great and by the numbers. I would like to compliment Terry on in this area.

Along the short flight from Little Rock to St Louis everything was running great and fuel flow was keeping at "by the book" levels. It was now time to take the aircraft from our 31,000 feet cruise and into approach mode. When power was reduced from 88%N1 to an idle speed the aircraft reacted as it should, slowing down to our descent speed of 270kts IAS. On approach the autopilot captured the ILS just right. This is where I really look at how the flight dynamics were designed; I don't like to see an aircraft "swim" back and forth on the ILS beam. With flaps set at 30 degrees and a speed of 155kts she held the LOC/GS rock steady.

Finally we were down and after some mild braking were turning off the active. With my flight finished I look back at the records I wrote down, and I feel someone who knows how a 737-200 should fly designed this aircraft's flight dynamics.

How will it perform on your PC?

Well I consider my system to be about midline and with my computer I was getting about 15-25 FPS during all phases of flight. So he has made the 737 so it won't give you a slide show if you like looking at the outside while you fly.

Final thoughts

Overall I think this is a very nice aircraft with the whole "look" and "feel", it truly makes it worth the download at MetroJet B737-200 in the AVSIM Online Library.