Harrier

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Harrier GR1 flittng around the Devon coast.

[J G 927]

Great shots Alan! I find flying the harrier hard, especially the landings.  Any tips?

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

The Harrier is a strange aircraft to fly, You can fly all of the freeware ones like a normal aircraft, but only the UK Mil version will behave like the real thing, it has really been done well. Like the real harrier, if you want a vertical take off or a very short stol run, you need to reduce fuel and payload by 50%,( exactly like the real thing.) then drop the flaps to about 70% open the throttle slowly and she will lift. (if you put the flaps fully down you will slowly fly backwards! ) once airborne raise the gear and slowly decrease the flap as well as increasing the throttle, once you are doing about 100kts you can fully raise the flaps and giver her full throttle, she will then behave like a normal aircraft. Landing is basicly the reverse, Make your approach normally, decreasing the throttle,then start to drop the flaps , you will begin to slow down, drop the u/c, decrease throttle slightly more and bring the flaps to about 65% you should slow down to less than 100 kts. use the stick to keep her level as the natural tendency is to nose over. once you are down to less than 50 kts drop the flaps to about 70% by this time you should be doing less than 20kts, slowly decrease the throttle and aim to keep the nose slightly raised. by using the throttle you should be able to touch down very gently, as soon as you are down cut the throttle to idle. raise the flaps fully up so that you can then taxi normally. I would advise turning your crash detector OFF until you get the hang of it. As I said, only the UKMil aircraft seems to perform properly. The Alpha sim one and other freewares can do short take offs and landings, but they are not happy if you try to go vertical, (I found one of them that just flipped itself upside down as soon as I opened the throttle!) It's all trial and error but I hope this helps.

[mutley 4,498]

Wow, those are some seriously nice shots Al. A shame we no longer operate these fantastic aircraft.

[J G 927]

Thanks Alan I have a payware Harrier (I think its the Wilco one) which uses the prop control to swivel the nozzles, and I can now do a good short takeoff (see the screenshot competition) and a good landing in the way you described, although not quite where I want to yet! 

[MyPC8MyBrain 273]

nice set; I’m always enchanted by the Harrier's split personality

I’m surprised you didn’t post the vertical takeoff in this month’s comp

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

I thought about it, I have some serious Shar shots I could have used, but decided with the choices entered.

[brett 2,316]

Great set of shots Alan.   Used to love watching them while I was in Japan, I actually thought, at one time, that they would never catch on.  Versatile yes but they sure do have a healthy list of crashes due to flipping over. Fly it at your own risk.(I know I always do, and that's in a C172    )