It’s not here yet but PMDG’s long awaited 737 update to bring an EFB tablet experience appears to finally be on the way. There’s also small tidbits of news about their Boeing 777. Here’s the summary and a bit of speculation.

The key points on 737 and 777

Robert S. Randazzo from PMDG has provided the community another update and in it there are some key points to take away. First off, the EFB tablet for the 737 (a feature they are calling the Universal Flight Tablet), appears to be finally on its way to customers. Internally they have a date for its release but externally they are not saying yet. Preview materials are due to come ahead of its launch.

PMDG.com owners will get the update first through what they are calling a “micro update” that will come packaged with a few other updates for the 737 line. Marketplace owners will have to wait longer as the update gets pushed to the Marketplace and then Microsoft pushes that out to owners.

Meanwhile on the 777 front a combination of family emergencies and illness has slowed the team up meaning that the 777 hasn’t gone to beta testing as they had hoped. Still, they sound enthusiastic about its status. Robert specifically calls out the work they’ve done on their fly-by-wire system for the jet and that they have really replicated the feel of flying the long haul, wide-body 777.

Before the storm?

The title of the update, “Calm before the storm, perhaps” seems to indicate that there are some big updates coming soon and that the quiet period over the summer was mostly caused by PMDG being heads down into their work.

Robert writes that the 4th quarter of this year and the 1st quarter of next year should be an exciting time for PMDG and fans of their products.

One user reminded us that an interview conducted about 8-months ago had Robert report that the 777 would likely arrive with the 737 MAX not coming too long after as there is commonality in the behind the scenes technologies.

Unfortunately we don’t have anything more solid just yet but hopefully this all portents a busy release schedule coming up as we head into next year.

Read the update here!