...🙂...OK, first of all, why good-old...? The 737-600 was the first ever PMDG aircraft I flew. It was also PMDG's first B737 rendition for our desktop...way back more than 20 years ago. I checked the PMDG Wiki just now a bit (btw, how can there be not a Wiki for it when there is one these days for almost everything...) especially when this (premier) SIM supplier has played (probably) the most singularly influential role in the lives of us (virtual) aviators...in fact more significant than the major world events...for some of us...🙂... (and to be honest, PMDG a/c have probably played a role for RW aviators too). The Wiki tells me that the 737-600/-700 NG was released by PMDG initially for "FS2004" in 2003. Indeed, that's what I recall as my first ever experience with this PMDG 737-600, the (exact) same airplane by the exact same maker that I am flying below, here today, after more than 20 years, and it feels good still...🙂... while I reminisce now that incredibly exciting (and also nerve-racking...🙂...) sensation of pushing the throttles of that PMDG 737-600, 2 decades ago, on a Saitek System (which, I recall, was acquired from "Best Buy" Electronics). That Store Chain still exists today with a location in my neighborhood, from where, btw, I (actually my teen) also got the Xbox, to be later adapted (as an after-thought) for MSFS2020 and MSFS2024.

Per records in the PMDG Wiki, I don't see the -600/-700 in FSX till October 2011 and in P3D till March 2015 (mind you, we got FSX on our desktop in October 2006), so, the -600 came a good 5 years after the FSX release. Those days, rather un-spoiled that we were...🙂..., eagerly waiting for such releases was a blissful experience for us (virtual) aviators, but, frankly, long waits now are not so much of an appeal, if you ask me, as my hair is growing greyer and greyer...🙂...resistantly refusing to accept those "off-the-shelf-drugstore" 5-minute color treatments...🙂...(Side note: I know because, just yesterday, I had to attend an end-of-year luncheon with a few (one-time) colleagues of the corporate world, and, after some mess in front of the mirror, I said to myself, "Bits of grey actually look mature and wise..."...🙂...while wondering at the same time the truth of this often-stated statement). I also read just now somewhere, "They say grey hair will make you look old, but from my 10 + years' experience, nothing could be further from the truth..."...from an anonymous on-line comment (not mine...) ...so, at least one person in this world is apparently standing up for this truth and agrees with my thought-process...🙂...Oh well...

But enough digression here...🙂...so, back now to Boeing's remarkable creation, the very first member of the 737 NG Series, the -600, that had taken to the high skies for the first time in service, in 1997, 27 years ago, been previously launched in 1995 by also a remarkable airline "SAS", yes, by "SAS", not by "Southwest" as we might think. It was SWA however that put the -600 first in service in 1997, followed by SAS a year later in 1998. The -600 is a perennial favorite of mine, though been shunned by most simmers, with due respect for those who still adore it and fly it here... (and shunned by most airline operators too, btw). It was, so to speak, the black sheep of the 737 family...🙂...The entry, I am told, did not make economic sense in the commercial market...for which fact, of course, I, here, have scant consideration in my virtual world...🙂...No question, though, the -600 heralded the legendary trend of the 737 NG series (glass cockpits over the archaic flight-deck of the classic 737...love those too...). We must also keep in mind, here, the one across the Atlantic...🙂...the A320, which was launched in 1984, 11 years before the -600, and was introduced into service, 10 years before the -600, in 1988, by Air France. 

Boeing may have given to the world, the very first (successful) short-haul "twin-engine" "narrow-body" "single-aisle" a/c, the 737-100, first built for Lufthansa, but it was the -600 with its glass-cockpit and innovative CFM56 powerplants etc., that was the true pioneer. Do not forget to examine the unique "flat-bottomed" engine nacelle design in my 736 pictures below; a feature that would persist until the 737 MAX arrived, and would always help me, tell the 737 from the 320 (and of course, that pointy nose of the 737, compared to the smooth rounded one of the 320...). Anyway, it was the -600 that would really stand toe-to-toe with the modernized A320. The -600 production itself might have been short lived, but on its shoulders, the younger and more modern 737 variants grew up later. And here is yet another curious fact...though the (older sibling) -600 came first in the NG series, it was the younger -700 that flew first on February 9, 1997, while the -600 flew a year later in January 22, 1998. The oldest 737 NG sibling, so to speak, let the younger (and the popular) one, get ahead on the runway for lift-off, to be the first ever 737 NG flying...a noble act by the 736...maybe...🙂...

Please find this collection of images of this lovable Baby Boeing 737-600, flying for me, for the first time in the MSFS2024 skies, on a short 400-miles test flight from my (one time place of domicile) Columbus/OH/KCMH (after I left Columbus, the airport was renamed after Astronaut (and Senator) John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth in space). I am flying to Washington D.C. (KIAD/Dulles) over and across the Appalachians (see the (default) EFB Terrain shots, below, as my 736 overflies this mountain range; you can also clearly spot, there, the 5 Great Lakes, on the border of U.S. and Canada). Eventually I catch sight of the famous Potomac River (1 shot included) in the final home stretch of my flight.

Appalachians, that I was hoping to meet in flight, are the mountains than span across the entire breadth of eastern U.S. from Maine to Tennessee, with which I've had ample chance to be familiar, in the RW, during my many road-trips to these states. In fact, Columbus/OH to Washington D.C. was my annual road-trip ritual for many years. These mountains are not as high as the Rockies (see my previous posts), in fact, less than 6,000 ft at their maximum summit, but they are very pretty, characterized by an endless series of smoky (and misty) ridges, ripples, and valleys...very picturesque...as I recall from my many pass-throughs in (and visits to) this region...

Hope you enjoy these pictures from my trip today (departure KCMH ~7:30am and arrival KIAD 9:00am). BTW, I noticed that the "PMDG 737-600" shows up as "Streamed" in my (Xbox/MSFS2024) Library, whatever that means...and there was a couple of pauses/freezes in mid-flight, never experienced before previously in my MSFS2020 use of this a/c. Otherwise, it flew well enough for me today including a nice touchdown into (ILS) Rwy 19R of KIAD (for this flight, I've not used the 737's (custom) EFB but instead have entered the SimBrief waypoints manually into the CDU).

Thanks for viewing...!

Edited December 6, 20241 yr by P_7878

Fine shots, now she is working in MSFS2024 ?

cheers 😉

Edited December 6, 20241 yr by pmplayer

Very nice set P_7878! 🙂 And I still haven't installed it....

Really nice shots. You're looking good in MSFS2004!

On 12/6/2024 at 12:22 PM, pmplayer said:

Fine shots, now she is working in MSFS2024 ?

cheers 😉

Appreciated the comment, pmplayer. This (PMDG) one is working better in FS2024 for me, than most other (complex) airliners, but as I said, certainly not as smooth as how it flew for me in MSFS2020...BTW, still, no luck with the iniBuilds airliners (A330/A321/A310 etc.) in my Xbox/MSSF2024...I think, generally speaking, the airliners were just released into FS2024 without much testing at all...

 

On 12/6/2024 at 2:03 PM, andiflyit said:

Very nice set P_7878! 🙂 And I still haven't installed it....

Thanks a lot, Andreas, for the comments.  Glad you liked. NP, you have plenty of (different) SIM platforms at your fingertip to keep you busy...🙂...anyway, so maybe one day, but this one from PMDG is a keeper, very smooth to fly...even in my Xbox...

 

On 12/6/2024 at 2:22 PM, John F said:

Really nice shots. You're looking good in MSFS2004!

...🙂...I know you mean MSSF2024, John...🙂 ... You know...there are just one or two folks here who fly the FS9 here....

Yes, so far so good, but I, being (mostly) an aircraft and airliner type simmer, don't still have access to all the FS2024 airliners in the hangar, most are un-flyable for me in Xbox now. Hopefully, things will change when the Marketplace opens for business. Thanks for the comment...!

 

Nice set! 😉 

On 12/8/2024 at 1:19 PM, Alaska738 said:

Nice set! 😉 

Thanks, Will. Appreciated the note...!

Glad to have the 736 functioning in my MSFS2024 Xbox system...And, after all, this is the Boeing that had started it all for the NG Series of which your namesake is the prime example...🙂...