Iris Simulations Jabiru J160/J170

Introduction

Since establishing Iris Simulations in 2005, David Love-Brice has built an excellent team of developers, artists, and code writers with a solid reputation for producing great add-on aircraft for Microsoft FSX, and Lockheed Martin Prepar3D. The recent release of Microsoft Flight Simulator has produced the expected flurry of excitement for the flight simulation community and Iris Simulations have been quick to support the community with the release of their first add-on aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator, the Jabiru J160/J170. Let’s jump into the cockpit of the Iris Simulations Jabiru and take it for a fly.

A Popular Australian Aircraft in the Light Sports Aircraft Category

The Jabiru J160 and Jabiru J170 are highly popular, two seat aircraft in the Light Sports Aircraft category. They are powered by an 80 horsepower, four cylinder, air cooled engine, producing a cruise speed of 100 knots and a range up to 1,030 nautical miles. Iris Simulations provide versions of the Jabiru J160 and Jabiru J170 with a range of four different analogue and glass cockpit avionics fit-outs and 16 high resolution liveries. Additionally, the package also comes with a “Bush Trip” to explore the Gippsland Lakes area of eastern Victoria, Australia. A high resolution paint kit is also available for aircraft painting enthusiasts. This is a comprehensive package, and certainly the most comprehensive package in any add-on aircraft for Microsoft Flight Simulator to date.

Visually,  the aircraft are stunning, with the external quality equal to any native aircraft in the simulator, The liveries are of a high quality, if not of a loud, lairy, and flamboyant style in some instances, which might provide some initiative for repaints within the community. Thankfully, I spend most of my time in the cockpit except that some of these repaints have equally lairy upholstery.....just make sure you wear rose tinted glasses. The cockpit panels are beautifully modelled with great depth perception on all the instruments and switches. For a light sports aircraft, they are well appointed with features and functionality and the availability of an autopilot capability on some models is a welcome feature and will make those longer flights a bit easier. An electronic knee pad on the centre console allows for the changing of various visual, aesthetic elements, such as wheel spats and different propeller types. The large front windscreen affords excellent visibility but side visibility is restricted by the size of the doors and the high wing configuration. Both cockpit doors open, which is the only animation other than flight controls. On the point of the doors, I felt the door opening levers lacked the same level of 3D depth perception evident on the cockpit panel.

The Jabiru J160/J170 is an absolute delight to fly with takeoffs and landings being effortless. It is nimble and has a crisp response to control inputs and trims out nicely at cruise. The 100 knot cruise speed is deceptive and based on its handling, you could be mistaken for thinking the Jabiru J160/J170 was more powerful.

As we have all felt the pain of the negative impact of changes to the simulator brought about by the updates by Microsoft/Asobo, the Iris Simulations Jabiru J160/J170 is no exception to this. Much to David Love-Brice’s credit, he has been extremely responsive in keeping the community updated on the specific nature of these impacts and quick to issue patch updates to overcome them, where applicable and possible.

The Potential

For general aviation and light sports aircraft flight simulation pilots, the Iris Simulations Jabiru J160/J170 is worthy of definite consideration. The aircraft is a comprehensive add-on package and will provide many flight hours of enjoyment. Available from the Iris Simulations’ store, it is priced at AU$24.99 and represents great value. Iris Simulations currently have the Grob G 115E, Tutor T1 in development for Microsoft Flight Simulator, and based on the Jabiru J160/J170, we can look forward to future releases by David and his team at Iris Simulations.