This was a fun one and I wanted to tell a short story and share some images of my first flight in Marwan Gharib’s HJet in Microsoft Flight Simulator. This Flight Journal episode actually happened back in mid-December but I hadn’t had a chance to tell the story until now. As a result, the HJet has seen a couple of substantial updates so some things may be out of date as you see them. Fear not, future flights will help me reveal the current state of things. In the meantime… enjoy this story!

Setting out

Honda’s VLJ (Very Light Jet) is a very small business jet ideal for just a couple of passengers interested in going in and out of a wide variety of airports. The Honda Jet is quite small with good performance, excellent efficiency, and a unique pedestal design for its engine mounts.

The MSFS iteration is the creation of Marwan Gharib. This one person development team makes ample use of the G3000 system for MSFS and as of this writing has just recently been updated with support for the Working Title G3000 series update. It’s a labour of love and it appears to have created a very detailed simulation of this little jet.

Tokyo to Kushiro in the HJet

Setting out under darkened skies at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, the HJet looks really sleek even when parked on an apron with the engines off. There’s a beautiful design here that is surely some sort of combination of aerodynamics and style. Definitely in the “looks right, feels right” category!

ATC asked me to taxi from an apron on the north end of the airport to the southern end and to then hold short for Runway 34L. That took a bit of time but it did let me appreciate the interior which has a good visibility but you do feel the small size of the space too – even in the sim!

Once on the runway I advanced the throttles to the takeoff position and we were away. Without much fuss at all!

Soon after takeoff I manoeuvred the aircraft onto course and began a climb to 8,000 feet. That took me through dense cloud and icing conditions. Fortunately the aircraft has ample anti-icing equipment and a warning system which lets you know about the conditions on the aircraft. There’s a custom panel too which shows the system in operation.

Another couple of turns and we were headed north towards our destination of Kushiro.

ATC cleared me for 37,000 feet and I dialed the jet in for a climb up to that altitude. I didn’t truly test the aircraft’s climb rate but it was easily able to maintain a very leisurely 1000 fpm climb. I’m sure it could do quite a bit more but I’ll have to find out.

This also gave me another opportunity to look at the cockpit and at the seats behind. There’s room for four and it looks luxurious enough for a business jet without being opulent. I’ll have to spend a bit more time looking around back there for the full review.

I love flying over Japan in MSFS. The beautiful scenery and varied locales really sell the whole experience of what MSFS can offer. Unfortunately, this flight only offered me some visuals of the scenery below as most of Honshu was covered in thick cloud.

At 37,000 feet, however, the view was still spectacular breaking through the various cloud layers and up into the clear skies above. Thick clouds gave way to clearer skies ahead with the island of Hokkaido, partially blanketed in snow, visible.

I did something to screw up the approach information as I ended up with my flight plan erased and just a few waypoints showing for the approach. User error is most likely the issue.

Fortunately, the HJet handles extremely well and while it operates more like an airliner, it has the handling to match many GA aircraft so if you want to fly it like a fast GA airplane it really can manage to do it without much trouble. And so this is what I did to make the approach work.

It wasn’t my best landing but I made it to my destination. A good first outing with the HJet and an airplane I intend to fly quite a bit more and review very soon.

A few impressions

I am quite surprised at how good this little jet is in MSFS. That it was created by one person with some support from a few other sources is all the more impressive. I did notice a few small visual glitches on the interior and I really screwed up the flight plan by the time I landed the airplane but I’m not holding this against the jet.

I also did have a crash to desktop but its not clear if that was a quirk of MSFS or the jet. It’s seen recent updates that have significantly altered and added to the aircraft as well so whatever the state of the aircraft was back in December when I did this flight, its surely changed, and it has such a positive reputation that I will definitely be flying it more.

It’s also just $28 USD on the Orbx store (where I bought it) so its a relatively cheap little jet too.