First of all, to us (jetliner) aviation enthusiasts, the 737 is a perpetual attraction..., partly because most of us flew on it, in the earliest years of our exposure to (domestic) jet travel, IRL (either as pax or pilot). We remind ourselves that the first B737 flew in 1967, 55 years ago from today, while the first Airbus (A300) flew in 1972, 5 years later than the 737, but significantly, that Airbus entry was not aimed at the B737. Though the A300 was indeed a twin-engined a/c, it being a larger plane, was targeted towards the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Lockheed L-1011 TriStar...In fact, the (B737's primary competitor and now ubiquitous) A320 would take first flight in 1987, 20 years after B737...

In our SIM(s), there is probably no greater excitement for the jetliner fans than the release of a 737NG a/c... (The NG series comprising of four variants, the −600/-700/-800/-900). Those of us, who might have actually participated in the past releases of these a/c in previous SIMs, and still sticking around here...🙂..., must (vividly, I may add...) recall these first instances of such 737 excitement. I noted today that PMDG had released FS9 (-600/-700/-800/-900) NG, in B2B twin packs, in 2003, and then for FSX, the order of release was reversed... (-800/-900) was released first in Aug. 2011, and then (-600/-700), two months later in Oct. 2011. Of course, we must not forget the iFly 737NG (an incredibly complete set of 737NGs in one single pack..."-600/700/700ER/800/900/900ER/BBJ/BBJ2/BBJ3"), that was also released around the same time in 2011, of which the -900ER is featured in this post.

In this post, while drifting away from my favoritism towards the "chunky/stubby/stocky" NG variants (-600/-700), I illustrate the longest ever 737 NG variant that Boeing manufactured, the "-900ER". The -900 is also of the same length as the -900ER, but, unfortunately, the -900 (standard) would not provide any (incremental) tangible benefits to the operators over the popular -800 and would not sell well, so, the -900ER followed as a natural extension of -900, purely driven by market needs. There were two significant drivers for it, Boeing's desire to inch closer towards the irreplaceable (but to be discontinued) B757-200, and more importantly to offer a competition for the (already in-service) A321-200 (if you wish, please see my earlier post on A321, "The Airbus A321 - a niche plane..."...please also note, for comparison, I've interjected, here, one shot of an A321-200, which image can be told apart easily below...). The sale of "-900" vs. "-900ER" was an order of magnitude different...50 900s vs. 500 900ERs sold. The -900ER is distinguishable from the -900 (or the -800) by the extra exit door behind the wing, mandated by regulations for its increased seating capacity. In my -900ER images below, this exit door can be seen directly over the artwork of the Flying Lady, Lady Janis....just next to the print "Birthday Girl".... And the (other) exit door seen in rear fuselage, next to the Reg. marking (G-SSVG), is same as the one that exists on the -800/-900 variants. Of course, the -900ER also introduced (other) advantages over the -900, such as increased Range and MTOW etc. The -900ER was the last 737NG, to sport the pronounced non-circular "hamster pouch" engine design (see close-up shots, below) ...in the 737 MAX engines, this curious trend would be much less noticeable...

The -900ER is about ~8 ft longer than the -800 (and about ~8 ft shorter than the A321-200). If you look carefully at the images, below, hopefully, you can appreciate this (extra) stretch of the airframe, compared to the 737-800 that you're so used to seeing around, here...🙂...The -900ER is powered by the CFM56 series engines, same as all other 737NG variants. For the Boeing BBJ fans, this B737-900ER design and airframe is the one from which the "BBJ3" variant is derived.

So, please find this collection of pictures of the 737-900ER, in the (fictional) color of Virgin Atlantic's classic "Flying Ladies" theme, specifically, Lady Janis, here, celebrating her birthday with her outstretched hand holding a glass of champagne...🙂... (If you're fan of military a/c, you will recall the practice of such paintwork, as exhibited, here, by Virgin Atlantic, for decades, been adopted by the pilots in World War I, and most prominently, also associated with American World War II planes).

For this post, I'm flying this 737 on a test-flight, but a complete flight, from takeoff to touchdown, between two of my favorite airports, Christchurch Airport (NZCH / Rwy 02) and Auckland Airport (NZAA / ILS Rwy 05R), up north, across the Cook Strait. In contrast to my previous flight with the Embraer 120 (Brasilia), where I had to manually track the tallest peaks of the Australian Alps, and also manually performed the descent to Canberra Airport, this 737, here, is let to be fully (and effortlessly) controlled by its modern and capable FMC and autopilot, via a pre-loaded Flightplan, for both lateral and vertical navigation...with no issues found with LNAV/VNAV functionality of this SIM, of course, as perceived, subject to my non-existent (first-hand) knowledge of all that's RW aviation...!

Anyway, hope you enjoy these pictures...! Good flying...!!

Great set of shots! 😉 

Fine set of shots from "the long cigar"  🤣  of the 737 series !

Not long anymore and we have that "cigar" within MSFS - maybe.. 

cheers 😉

pmplayer, Ed, Kerry, and Will: Thank you for the comments etc. Appreciated....Cheers...!!

Very nice shots, P_7878 !!

Thanks, bernd, for chiming in...🙂....Regards...!

Close , but no cigar .......😉

10 hours ago, johnbow72 said:

Close, but no cigar .......😉

...🙂...Thanks for the note, John...!!