Introduction

Arguably one of the areas that appear to be neglected when it comes to Microsoft flight simulator is the business jet market, developers tend to focus on in-depth airliners or in-depth general aviation aircraft with little interest in detailed business and corporate jets. I am glad to say that FlightFX and Marwan Gharib have turned this around with the fantastic Hjet, a recreation of the 7-seat, GE-powered Honda Jet. Concepts of the original HondaJet began all the way back in 1997 with the major design finished by 1999 and on December 3rd 2003 the first Honda HA-420 HondaJet took to the skies. Since mass production started in 2015, over 200 of the aircraft have been delivered and now thanks to FlightFX, you can have your very own recreation with their Hjet! 

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Installation and purchasing: 

The Hjet is available on the MSFS marketplace, your one-stop shop when it comes to this aircraft, you simply purchase and it installs automatically. It is a painless and quick process. In terms of pricing, the Hjet is priced very reasonably at $24.99 this is a good price for such a quality addon in my view, but more on that to come! 

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Visuals: 

The exterior visuals of the Hjet are second to none, looking at the detail even down to fasteners and the chrome items is just spectacular and you are sure to drool over the quality of work here. In my view, the Hjet shows a level of detail with the outside visuals that far exceeds what one would expect for its price range. 

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The interior visuals and textures of the Hjet continue to impress, the cockpit is beautifully detailed with fantastic texture work. I was particularly impressed by the stitching on the leather and the small details placed around the cockpit and I honestly can't fault it. 

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As we move back into the cabin, the texture work is slightly less impressive. This is understandable and is the case with most aircraft, the cabin tends to be overlooked a little. Unfortunately, the door handle was not modelled or functional on the inside and could not be opened with a click spot, instead, it had to be done using a menu built into the avionics suite. This is certainly not a deal breaker, but it is a feature that the aircraft would benefit from in the future. Other than this, I honestly can't fault the modelling or texture work of the Hjet.

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Systems

Systems-wise the Hjet far supersedes what one would expect for such a low price. The Hjet features an in-depth Garmin G3000 Suite which incorporates working synthetic vision along with all the other features you would come to expect on a detailed recreation of the popular avionics suite. The MFD, PFD and engine information display have all been recreated in excellent detail to match the real deal by the developer. An external ground power unit is also modelled and works nicely and in a realistic fashion. One of the most impressive features of the Hjet is the fully operational VNAV system, it was built completely from scratch in faithful detail and is the only G3000 aircraft on MSFS to feature such a system. There are also a large array of detailed systems screens and displays all feeding real data back to the pilot. The Anti-ice, bleed air and electrical bus systems have all been faithfully recreated against real world technical manuals to ensure top quality and realism.

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The G3000 suite also incorporates navigraph geo-referenced charts which is a fantastic feature if you use navigraph. 

In the cabin, the interior lighting is beautifully recreated and can be controlled again through the avionics suite. I would rather this could be controlled externally in places but this is a very minor thing. All in all the system depth is extraordinary for only $24.99

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Flight and Handling characteristics 

Firstly I will start with a slight negative, I have noticed that the aircraft appears to take a large amount of thrust to brake-away and initially get rolling. Apart from this, I cannot fault the Hjet. From takeoff to landing it flies beautifully and exactly as you would expect the real deal to handle. It is a sporty little aircraft and feels just this way in the sky, however, when it needs to be stable it certainly is. 

I have tested the aircraft to its very limits and slightly beyond, in all types of weather. I am happy to report the way it handles adverse conditions and strong winds lines up with what is expected after researching the aircraft and viewing the operating manuals.

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Sounds

The Hjet sounds are simply exceptional! It is nice to see that the quietness of the cabin has been recreated so well. Largely due to the wing-mounted engines the Hjet cabin is extremely quiet. The exterior sounds are just as good as the interior, the GE-Honda HF-120 engines sound fantastic and very realistic. 

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User Experience

The user experience overall is great with the Hjet! In terms of performance, it's exceptional for an aircraft so detailed, I noticed little impact to frame rates even when flying the aircraft in busy built-up areas such as Chicago and Los Angeles. 

A drawback for me is the lack of interaction in the cabin, although the partition wall in the back of the cabin is moveable it would be fantastic to see a little more detail and time spent here. Business jet customers more so than tubeliner pilots tend to like a cabin well detailed for their flight simulator so I think the Hjet could benefit from some more work here. 

Most of the external objects, GPU and door options are all toggled through the avionics suite along with the menu to load and configure the aircraft with passengers and fuel. This is useful and intuitive but I think the addon would benefit from a more realistic approach to this side of things. 

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Conclusion 

Overall I think the Hjet is one of the best business jet products available for MSFS, for only $24.99 It is an exceptional addon that puts a strong fight up to even the most detailed business jets. It is also fantastic that the Hjet is available for both PC and Xbox. I am beyond impressed with the quality and fun that can be had while flying this aircraft. With an all-new update just around the corner that's set to improve the aircraft even more by adding improvements and new features such as 3d passengers to heighten the immersion.

Speaking to the developer, Marwan he had this to say concerning the future of the Hjet:

“ We have developed an extensive TO-DO list that is based on the community feedback, which is made public for the visibility of the users to know which feature requests, fixes and enhancements are being worked on at any given time and their real-time development status to give the community a hands-on view of the development roadmap. Work is continuing on further refinement of the HJET's custom autopilot and system, additionally, we are looking forward to integrating the highly anticipated refresh of the G3000 coming from WT at the end of the year”

I would like to thank Marwan and Nick for their co-operation throughout this review and to FlightFX community member TheHodge146 for providing a beautiful screenshot of his livery and interior for the Hjet. 

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