Is that (apart from takeoff trim being set) why the hornet etc is hands off on launch?
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I couldn’t say for certain, but my guess would rather be that the Hornet off the cat is designed to fly a very specific profile and the flight control computer has full authority to do it.
If the pilot starts trying to finesse it, he stands a good chance of PIOing the jet into the water. In other words, the computer can think so fast that it’s either already doing what the pilot thinks it should be doing or has a good reason not to be doing it yet. Any “help” from the pilot would likely make it worse…like trying to “pump” your antilock brakes.
Reducing the effect of any illusions is just a side benefit I think.
Just my understanding. 
Only semi related, the Airbus 320 has some modes that are either counter to how you would expect them to work or work intentionally to make the pilot act in the way he normally would in a conventional aircraft (i.e. faking out the pilot).
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Thanks @Deacon211 thats interesting stuff to know
I assume the Harrier was the opposite on takeoff with no cat, deathgrip on stick and throttle and eyes latched onto everything they could see on the gauges
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There are some good descriptions of Harrier deck landings in David Morgan’s Falklands book Hostile Skies.
Seem to remember a few procedures being explained in another Harrier book, Joint Force Harrier (GR9) from Op Herrick - but that was land ops of course and mostly covered CAS and avoiding blue on blue.
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Oh, certainly very hands on like most other carrier aircraft. My memory of the Cat was that it felt like you were flung off, like a paper airplane thrown by an enormous child.
So there was a second there, when the deck was behind you, where you had about a second to go:
“Whoa, is she flying?”
“Yeah, I think she’s flying.”
And that was in a T-2 or TA-4 with drops locked out and no ordnance.
I imagine that, if you were going off loaded for bear, that sickly second, as the jet settled into its AOA, must have been, “interesting” to say the least! 
The Harrier was similar. You ran your power to Mil then stopped it at about 60% to check the acceleration of the engine. You dropped your nozzles to the STO stop, checked your indications, and put them back aft.
You saluted the shooter, looked forward, ran the throttle to Mil again, then let off the brakes at wheel skid.
Then the most important part.
Once you put the throttle up, you veeeeeeery deliberately put your hand on the nozzle lever and steered down the tram line to the white rotation strip on the bow.
Once you crossed that line, you pulled the nozzles in smartly.
If you didn’t put your hand on the nozzles quite so carefully, you’ve just yanked your throttle to idle.
And in case you are wondering, it has happened.
But If you did it right, the jet sort of settled into its AOA just like off the cat, then kind of clawed its way out.
It’s kind of different from taking off from the runway, where the plane feels like it flies when it’s ready.
If you’ve ever rotated too early off the runway, you know the feeling…like the airplane is a grumpy old dog that isn’t sure it wants to get up.
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The way you made me nervous and anxious with this deliberate description man…
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Landing an Anton at Paris Orly
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Bravo! Nicely done.
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12 Durandals, 900 ft interval, heavy AAA
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What kind of AAA system was that shooting at the Strike Eagle?
That strike would look great on a black night with a ton more AAA shooting at you 
, which is pretty much what they did opening nights of GW1.
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A mix of enlosed and Shilkas. It was a Shilka that got me in the end. But it was suicide mission to begin with. Even at near supersonic, the Shilka was able to track me.
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Shoulda put a couple BMP-3s in. You wouldn’t even have gotten your bombs off 
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For some reason I like this one the best. I think it is because I like the camo scheme on the Harrier.
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Hey…thanks. 
This popped up in my youtube list…
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Wow! Extremely well done, I wonder where they got the JSDF ground forces.
I’ve seen whispers of a South Korean ground unit mod, but I’ve never been able to find it.
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