Iron Jetpacks is a Forge Energy-powered jetpack mod focused entirely on personal flight, offering six tiers of craftable jetpacks that grow from a sluggish Wooden Jetpack to a fast and capacious Emerald Jetpack. Every jetpack in the mod draws power from any compatible FE source, making it a natural companion to most tech mods. The mod requires no multiblocks or machines: just a 
Crafting Table and the right materials.
Each jetpack is assembled from four component types: Energy Cells, 
Thrusters, a 
Capacitor, and Coils, all made from the same tier material. The upgrade system is clean: when moving to a higher tier, the previous jetpack slots directly into the crafting recipe as an ingredient, and any stored power transfers to the new model without loss. With Curios support, jetpacks can be worn in a dedicated body slot, leaving the chest armor slot free for a full armor set.
Getting Started with Iron Jetpacks
Crafting the first jetpack involves six steps, but each one follows a pattern that repeats at every tier. The only ingredient unique to the first jetpack is a 
Leather Strap, crafted once from three 
Leather and two 
Iron Nuggets. For the starter Wooden Jetpack, Wood Planks serve as the tier material throughout every component recipe.
Craft Basic Coils
Basic Coils are the core ingredient in every early-tier component. The recipe places a 
Stick in the center of the Crafting Table, then adds 
Iron Ingots in the four adjacent positions (top, bottom, left, right) to form a plus sign, with 
Redstone Dust in the upper-right and lower-left corners.
Each craft produces one Basic Coil. Building a complete first jetpack requires eleven Coils total, so batch-crafting at least a dozen saves time. Coil quality scales with jetpack tier rather than following a fixed assignment. Basic Coils cover the first two tiers, including Wood, Stone, and Copper. 
Advanced Coils handle the mid-range, covering Iron through Invar Jetpacks.
Elite Coils are required for Diamond and Platinum Jetpacks, while 
Ultimate Coils are needed for the Emerald Jetpack. All four coil types share the same crafting pattern, with only the tier material changing.
Craft Energy Cells
Energy Cells are the batteries that power the Thruster and Capacitor crafting steps. Place the appropriate Coil in the center of the Crafting Table, add the tier material (Planks for Wood Jetpacks) in the left-center and right-center slots, and place Redstone Dust above and below the Coil in the top-center and bottom-center slots.
Each craft produces one Energy Cell. Craft five Energy Cells before moving forward: three will go into the Capacitor and one each will go into the two Thruster crafts.
Craft Two Thrusters
Thrusters provide the propulsion for flight. Fill all four corners with the tier material, then place Coils in the top-center, center-left, and center-right positions around the middle. Place one Energy Cell in the exact center, and put a 
Furnace block in the bottom-center slot.
Each craft consumes the Furnace and produces one Thruster. Two Thrusters are required per jetpack, so this recipe needs to be crafted twice, consuming two Furnaces total.
Craft the Capacitor
The Capacitor stores the jetpack's energy during flight. Place one Energy Cell each in the top-center, middle-center, and bottom-center slots of the Crafting Table, forming a vertical column.
Fill all six remaining positions with the tier material; three Energy Cells and six material pieces yield one Capacitor per craft.
Craft the Leather Strap
The Leather Strap is needed only for the very first jetpack. Place three Leather across the middle row, and one Iron Nugget in each of the top-center and bottom-center slots to produce one Leather Strap.
When upgrading to any higher tier, the Strap slot in the recipe is replaced by the previous tier jetpack, making this a one-time craft for the entire playthrough.
Assemble and Charge
With all components ready, open the Crafting Table. Place the Capacitor in the top-center, tier material in the top-left, top-right, middle-left, and middle-right slots, the Leather Strap in the exact center, and both Thrusters in the bottom-left and bottom-right, with the bottom-center left empty.
This produces the completed jetpack. Before flying, charge it by placing it in any compatible FE charging slot, such as a Mekanism Energy Cube or a tech mod charging station, until the bar fills. We recommend the Charging Gadgets mod.
Once charged, equip the jetpack in the chest armor slot, or in the Curios Body slot if that mod is installed. Press V to enable the engine: the HUD will show it switching to ON. Hold the jump key to ascend.
The Wooden Jetpack is noticeably slow and drains quickly, but the controls are identical across all tiers. Moving to even the Copper or Iron Jetpack feels like a significant upgrade in both speed and range.
Iron Jetpacks Controls and HUD
Iron Jetpacks adds six keybinds under the "Iron Jetpacks" section of the Minecraft controls menu. The engine and hover keys are the most important to learn early: the jetpack will not respond to the jump key unless the engine is on, and many players new to the mod spend their first session wondering why pressing Space does nothing.
Engine and Hover Mode
The engine is toggled with V, and the state displays on the HUD as green (ON) or red (OFF). Hover Mode, toggled with H, locks the player at their current altitude without requiring any held input. It is especially useful for building, as the jetpack maintains height automatically while placing blocks.
One important detail: turning the engine off also disables Hover Mode. Players who frequently use hover need to re-enable it each time the engine is toggled back on.
Throttle Control
The throttle ranges from 0% to 100% and multiplies both the vertical and horizontal flight speed. Pressing the Period key increases it by one step, and pressing the Comma key decreases it. Reducing the throttle to 20-30% is ideal for precision work like building exteriors, navigating tight caves, or placing blocks at height without overshooting the target position.
The HUD
A small overlay appears on the left side of the screen while a jetpack is equipped, showing the current tier, engine state, hover state, throttle percentage, and an energy bar for remaining charge. The HUD position can be changed in the mod's config file, with preset options for all six screen corners and left/right midpoints. Holding Shift while viewing the jetpack in the inventory expands a detailed stat tooltip showing fuel usage per tick, all speed values, and sprint multipliers for that specific jetpack.
All Jetpack Tiers in Iron Jetpacks
The default mod includes 13 jetpacks across six tiers, with multiple material options at several tiers. Jetpacks at the same tier number are not identical: they differ in energy capacity, fuel usage (shown as FE/t, or Forge Energy per tick), and flight speed. The table below covers every default jetpack's core stats.
Tier
Capacity (FE)
FE/t
Vert Speed
Tier 0 and Tier 1: Wood, Stone, and Copper
The Wood Jetpack exists mainly to unlock the upgrade path. Its 20,000 FE capacity depletes within a few minutes of active flight, hover mode causes visible altitude loss, and there is no sprint bonus.
It provides 1 armor point in the chest slot. Treating it as a stepping stone rather than a usable flight tool is the correct approach.
Tier 1 offers Stone and Copper. Stone holds 100,000 FE at 70 FE/t and provides 2 armor points, serving as a minor improvement over Wood.
Copper is a meaningful step up: 250,000 FE capacity, 85 FE/t, faster vertical speed, and a small sprint bonus from 
Copper Ingots widely available in most worlds. When both are available, Copper is the stronger Tier 1 option across all measured stats.
Tier 2: Iron and Bronze
Iron and Bronze are statistically identical at Tier 2, both holding 800,000 FE at 120 FE/t with a vertical speed of 0.41.
Note that Bronze requires a tech mod such as Thermal Expansion or Immersive Engineering to obtain. Either works as a reliable mid-game jetpack.
Silver sits above both with 1,200,000 FE capacity, 150 FE/t consumption, and 0.48 vertical speed, but requires Silver Ingots from an ore generation mod or modpack. Both provide 3 armor points and a moderate sprint speed bonus.
Tier 3: Gold
Tier 3 is the most varied tier. Gold is the only vanilla-accessible option here; Electrum, Steel, and Invar all require materials from tech mods such as Thermal Expansion or Create. Gold offers solid capacity, with a 1.5x sprint-speed multiplier.
Electrum stands out for vertical speed: at 0.79, it outpaces Steel (0.67), Invar (0.61), and Gold (0.61), making it the fastest climber despite equal or lower capacity. Steel and Invar both reach 12,000,000 FE capacity, but Invar matches Gold's slower 0.61 vertical speed
Sprint fuel consumption becomes a real concern at this tier. Gold and Invar consume 3.2x their base FE while sprinting, Steel uses 3.2x, and Electrum uses 3.5x. A Gold Jetpack consuming 300 FE/t burns 960 FE/t at full sprint.
Players running a modest power setup at this stage will notice faster-than-expected drain during active sprinting. Keeping a close eye on the energy bar is a worthwhile habit from this tier onward.
Tier 4 and 5: Diamond and Emerald
Diamond and Platinum are both Tier 4. Diamond holds 30,000,000 FE at 650 FE/t with a vertical speed of 0.90. Platinum improves on every stat: 36,000,000 FE, 720 FE/t, and 0.92 vertical speed.
When Platinum Ingots are available in the modpack, it is always the stronger Tier 4 choice. Both provide 4 armor points and a 1.8x sprint speed multiplier.
The Emerald Jetpack is the top default tier. It stores 48,000,000 FE, consumes 880 FE/t, and reaches a vertical speed of 1.03 with a horizontal speed of 0.21. At full sprint it doubles horizontal speed with a 2.0x multiplier while consuming fuel at 4.0x the base rate, meaning 3,520 FE/t at maximum sprint.
The sheer capacity means even heavy sprint flying rarely drains it quickly. It is the most capable default jetpack for fast long-distance travel.
How to Upgrade Your Iron Jetpack
Upgrading to a higher tier follows the same pattern as the first jetpack assembly with one change: the Leather Strap in the center slot is replaced by the previous tier's jetpack. Craft the new tier's Capacitor and two Thrusters using the new material and the appropriate Coil type, then use the old jetpack in the center of the crafting grid. The four surrounding material pieces, the Capacitor, and the Thrusters remain in the same positions as before.
Any FE stored in the old jetpack is automatically carried forward when the upgrade completes. There is no power loss during the crafting process.
A practical approach is to fully charge the existing jetpack before upgrading: the new model starts with that energy already loaded. This matters most at the jump from Tier 3 to Tier 4, where capacity increases by 20 million FE.
The coil type required changes at certain tiers. In the default six-tier setup, Basic Coils cover the first two tiers, Advanced Coils cover the middle two, Elite Coils are needed for Tier 4, and Ultimate Coils are required for the Emerald Jetpack. Using the wrong coil tier results in a broken recipe. If an upgrade is not producing output, check that the correct coil type is being used for that tier's components.
Iron Jetpacks Tips for Success
Learn the keybinds before the first flight. The engine defaults to V and hovers to H, and neither is labeled anywhere obviously on screen. Confirming both in the controls menu before going airborne avoids a confusing first session where pressing Space does nothing.
Keep hover mode active when working at altitude. Turning the engine off also disables hover, so players who switch the engine off mid-air can take unexpected fall damage on landing. Hover mode consumes less power than active climbing, so leaving it on while building or exploring at height is both safe and practical.
Compare stats within a tier before choosing a material. The same tier number does not mean the same stats: Copper outperforms Stone at Tier 1, Silver outperforms Iron at Tier 2, and Electrum has the highest vertical speed at Tier 3 despite lower capacity than Steel or Invar. Holding Shift while viewing a jetpack in the inventory shows all stats including fuel usage, speed values, and sprint multipliers.
Sprint fuel consumption multiplies aggressively at Tier 3 and above. Sprinting while flying multiplies fuel consumption by at least 3x: a Gold Jetpack that uses 300 FE/t normally burns 960 FE/t at full sprint, and an Emerald Jetpack burns 3,520 FE/t at maximum sprint. For long overland travel, reducing throttle to 60-70% still covers ground quickly while cutting fuel use significantly.
Use low throttle for building and tight navigation. At full throttle, even a Tier 2 Iron Jetpack moves fast enough to consistently overshoot block placement. Reducing throttle to around 20-25% makes exterior building, bridging, and cave navigation far more controllable, and the throttle keys respond quickly enough to switch between travel speed and precision on the fly.
Frequently Asked Questions
The engine must be enabled before the jetpack responds to the jump key. Press V (default) to toggle the engine on: the HUD on the left side of the screen displays the engine state as ON in green or OFF in red. If the energy bar in the HUD is empty, the jetpack also will not fly regardless of engine state. Confirm both the engine indicator is green and the energy bar shows charge before attempting to ascend.
Jetpacks charge from any Forge Energy (FE) source. Place the jetpack in the charging slot of a compatible block: Mekanism Energy Cubes, charging stations from tech mods, or any FE storage unit with an item charging interface all work. The mod is compatible with most FE-based tech mods including Immersive Engineering, Thermal Expansion, and Mekanism. Wireless charging mods can also be used if present in the modpack. Charging time scales with the jetpack tier, as higher tiers hold far more total FE.
Yes, if the Curios mod is installed in the modpack. Iron Jetpacks includes built-in Curios support and registers jetpacks to the Body slot of the Curios inventory, which is separate from standard armor slots. This lets players wear a full chestplate alongside the jetpack simultaneously. The Curios integration is enabled by default in the mod's config. Without Curios, the jetpack occupies the chest armor slot but still provides passive armor protection while equipped there.
Yes, all jetpacks provide armor points when equipped in the chest slot. The Wood Jetpack provides 1 armor point, Tier 1 jetpacks provide 2, most Tier 2 and 3 jetpacks provide 3, and Tier 4 and 5 jetpacks provide 4 armor points. The protection is lower than a dedicated chestplate, but it is not negligible, particularly at higher tiers. When wearing the jetpack in the Curios Body slot rather than the chest slot, the armor values still apply from the Curios slot.
Yes, all stored FE transfers automatically to the new jetpack when the upgrade craft completes. There is no power loss during upgrades. A practical approach is to fully charge the current jetpack before crafting the upgrade, so the new model starts with power already loaded. The upgrade recipe is the same as the initial assembly except the Leather Strap in the center slot is replaced by the current tier jetpack, which gets consumed to produce the next tier.
