Just Flight 146 v5 Opinions

[Tim_Capps 474]

At the JF store, it's $86 US and cheaper at SimMarket even with a few reward points I have with JF. I'm guessing this is not one of their Aeroplane Heaven developments that have historically brought plenty of issues to be fixed along with the usual stuffed Christmas stocking of JF variants and liveries. It says it was released in 2021 and doesn't look bad. (Their TriStar Pro was really dated, I thought, eventually got deleted.) As a sucker for weird old jets and not one to turn up my nose at JF, the question is not so much as "is it worth that much?" but, assuming I would be willing to pay that for an oddball pocket quadjet to add to my collection, any significant, specific caveat emptors?

[jon b 2,060]

It’s really nice actually, I have it in both P3D and XP I like it so much, I think it sounds like something you’d enjoy.

The instrumentation is really smooth , but there’s a lot of well animated  electromechanical engine instruments spinning around on that engine panel so it can be slightly heavy on the FPS, nothing too bad though.

Great sound package and systems modelling, study level really, and a superb old school IFR instrument suite.,it was at the pinnacle of analog instrument standards just before things started going to EFIS. JF said were going to release the EFIS equipped RJ series as an add on, but that’s not been talked about recently that I know of  so it may have been scrapped along with some other of their P3D plans.

It’s a JF in-house development and it’s been done to a high standard. The only negative comment I have about the P3D version is it’s nose sits too high on approach. It doesn’t have the characteristics nose down negative pitch attitude that the real 146 has, something that HAS been captured in the XP version.

It has no reverse thrust but powerful brakes with cooling fans, operators normally flew it with the tail clamshell speed brakes open on the approach , it doesn’t affect the pitch like wing mounted spoilers do.

Its a very unique and characterful little jet, I always wanted to fly one but it never happened sadly but have great memories of flying on the jump seat on them up and down the U.K.

[SimeonWilbury 220]

I can very much back up Jon on this one, It's a very pleasant aircraft to fly, it's got a few tricks up its sleeve with the TMS (thrust modulation system) that keep you on your toes as well, weird manual/ autothrottle hybrid that sets approximate thrust settings when you move the thrust levers to a certain point depending how you have it set. As with the DC8 you have the satisfaction of microing the throttles to get exactly the right cruse thrust

The -300QT is also a lovely option for regional cargo-hops.

 

+ it has GSX inegration and a well-done load manager utility as well which makes it so much easier to use than previous JF product's I've had, Airlinerperformance has done some PFPX profiles for the -200 and -300QT that you can get for a tip

Edited February 7, 2022 by SimeonWilbury

[Christopher Low 5,393]

How capable is that FMS? Would I be able to input user created waypoints like I can with the PMDG planes? I am aware that it does not have an autothrottle, but does it have a speed hold function?

[SimeonWilbury 220]

27 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

How capable is that FMS? Would I be able to input user created waypoints like I can with the PMDG planes? I am aware that it does not have an autothrottle, but does it have a speed hold function?

I'm not sure you can create 'custom' waypoints in the FMC, I'm not sure there's anything preventing you from keying raw coordinates in if that's necessary, but I personally rely on Airac waypoints. It's a fairly early model FMC so the functionality in general I would think would be much more limited compared to more modern Boeing/ Airbus FMCs.

The AP has an IAS hold mode for climb/ descent, which will adjust the pitch to hold the Airspeed to the current indication when the mode is engaged. Other than that the Speed is pretty much manual, however if you set the speed bug on the IAS indicator there is a little guide on the Artificial Horizon to help you gain the desired Airspeed. It's definitely not a traditional VNAV though (and the original aircraft wasn't fitted with one either)

Edited February 7, 2022 by SimeonWilbury

[Pinello 2]

4 hours ago, jon b said:

It’s really nice actually, I have it in both P3D and XP I like it so much

 

How does the XP and P3D version compare? I think I read somewhere that the Thranda-version had the edge(?). It is now also noe comming to a sim not to be named.

[SimeonWilbury 220]

22 minutes ago, Pinello said:

How does the XP and P3D version compare? I think I read somewhere that the Thranda-version had the edge(?). It is now also noe comming to a sim not to be named.

I don't own XPlane but I believe the attitude on approach is more accurate than the P3D version (as I believe Jon noted). However I believe it also does not come with the authentic FMC (and substitutes the default Laminar one instead). Not sure how the version for the other sim will turn out yet.

Depends how much the FMC matters to you I guess as I haven't found anything else negative about the XP11 port. Don't know anything about Thranda

Edited February 7, 2022 by SimeonWilbury

[Pinello 2]

2 hours ago, SimeonWilbury said:

..Don't know anything about Thranda

Thanks. I belive it was Thranda that did the actual port to XP11 for JustFlight.

[Tim_Capps 474]

I picked it up and first impressions were favorable. Much better than the ancient TriStar Professional in appearance, so that's promising. Manual is 247 pages without much fluff. I'll be printing that out and going over it, because this is obviously not just a pleasant joyride like their DC-8 or BAC One Eleven (both Aeroplane Heaven developments). The FMS reminds my of the one in the Majestic Dash-8-Q400 in format (can't comment on capabilities yet). That's definitely a different take and has been hard for me to get used to. Lots of variants and liveries, as you would expect from JF. If they're capable of this sort of development, I'd really like to see their 747, but that has probably been pushed to the back burner or off the stove entirely for reasons that are discussed with tedious regularity here.

Thanks very much for the advice. A British four-engine short-haul jet that looks like a toy C-17. What a blast!

[SimeonWilbury 220]

14 minutes ago, Tim_Capps said:

If they're capable of this sort of development, I'd really like to see their 747, but that has probably been pushed to the back burner or off the stove entirely for reasons that are discussed with tedious regularity here.

To your first point: Yes indeed! I think both the 747 and the A300 are extremely promising, the 146 has been a great example of what JF's current dev team can achieve.

I would like to contest the idea that the 747 is on the backburner though, that hasn't been the case for a while now and Active Development is underway, it's just that they aren't that open with development that doesn't really have much to show in way of screenshots. Latest in the JF Forum is from December:

Quote

"Now that are making good progress with the systems coding again, the entire project is currently going through a review and upgrade process to bring everything up to the latest standards and to ensure that the visual detail and accuracy matches the study-level depth of those systems. Once we've finished that review, early next year, then we'll be sure to update you all here on those upgrades and improvements, including new screenshot and video previews." - Martyn

Of course this is taking a while; but I wouldn't say the project is on the backburner per-se, of course JF's current priority is MSFS, but they are still committed to bringing the A300 & 747 to P3D for the time being. I think the main problem with JF is that they are a relatively small team balancing rather a lot of projects, so progress in terms of the hard-coding is often slower than is ideal, but their output has improved a lot recently (cutting AH out of the process has helped a lot imo)

I know it's easy to be pessimistic about development for P3D at the moment with developers abandoning the Platform, but I think we can afford to retain a certain degree of optimism in some respects.

Edited February 7, 2022 by SimeonWilbury

[jon b 2,060]

5 minutes ago, Tim_Capps said:

A British four-engine short-haul jet that looks like a toy C-17. What a blast!

Ha yes,  try doing the 5.5 degree glidepath ILS into London City EGLC with the 146 !

4 hours ago, Pinello said:

How does the XP and P3D version compare?

Flight model on the XP version is more tuned I think ,with that characteristic nose down approach I mentioned. However the spinning drum engine instruments seem to have smoother animations in the P3D version, they’re incredibly well done and are actually mesmerising to watch spinning around when you pull the throttles back.

The XP version now has a choice of a custom FMC  , the default XP FMC or my personal choice ..no FMC just a blanking plate. The FMC was only retrofitted to some aircraft later on, the original factory config was no FMC just good old fashioned VOR/DME and ADF navigation and approaches.

I use both versions in VR and they are both good for that. There’s something really nice about flying the -100 series in particular in VR and making a left turn after takeoff and looking back over your left shoulder and seeing the little turbines hanging off the stubby high wing.

 

[SAS443 1,731]

10 hours ago, jon b said:

The only negative comment I have about the P3D version is it’s nose sits too high on approach. It doesn’t have the characteristics nose down negative pitch attitude that the real 146 has, something that HAS been captured in the XP version.

This was brought to their attention (by me and many others) even during beta phase.

(Interestingly, their PA28 Warrior for MSFS suffers from exactly the same issue which is also left unfixed).

Admittedly, I haven't flown it for quite awhile, I recall initial release was plagued by a few teething problems, mostly related to Speed on Pitch AP-mode and ILS/LOC capture. But maybe that has been taken care of since long time ago.

Graphics wise, she is top notch in my books, kudos to the modeller/texture artists.

Edited February 7, 2022 by SAS443