Oh..hello there...(Harrier first impressions..)

Also worth mentioning that the velocity vector and HUD update rate is smooth as butter. I’m running the sim maxed out at 1920 x 1080 and FRAPS is showing about 90 FPS (granted, I’m the only plane in the air).

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How is the flight in a hover? Im gonna assume is not even close to a helo feeling or anything else we’ve seen in a sim.

Haven’t tried it yet. Just landed after my first circuit. Touchdown around 140 at 40 degrees of nozzle. Probably too fast. I also think I didn’t move my ANTISKID switch out of NWS to ON as I was lining up for takeoff. A bit of dancing on the rudders on landing. I moved the nozzle selector to full down (100-ish degrees?) and left idle power and speed slowly decayed. Started getting on the brakes and got a bit wobbly…probably owing to the lack of anti-skid. End of the runway coming up fast and went into the overrun a wee bit. Ooopsie…gonna be some paperwork to fill out on that one. Also have a CW NOGO annunciator on. I don’t know what that means. I’m assuming it isn’t good.

I’ll go ahead and see what happens if I try to hover from here…probably nothing good at this weight of fuel…

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I just noticed when I moved the FLAP switch to AUTO the flaps went to 25. So my nozzle 40 landing probably should have been done at that setting…and probably would have given me more lift and lower landing speed…so there ya’ go…

…and now moved it to STOL and the flaps moved to 61 degrees…

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So as expected…ran it up to 113% and though the struts decompressed a bit…no takeoff at that weight…

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Hit the H2O to TO switch and power went up to 120.0% and got a bit more strut decompression, but still no takeoff at this weight (10,200 lbs. of fuel)…so lets see at nozzle 60 and in the STOL configuration of FLAPS 61…

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So yeah…at FLAP 61 and nozzles 60, even at the heavy weight she came off at right at around 95 knots…again, you have to sort of nurse it…definitely a more fragile feeling than just shoving the throttle forward and yanking back at speed X…

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So after rotation, accelerated to about 150 and moved the FLAP to AUTO and the nozzles to ZERO at the same time…that got kind of exciting as the aircraft started to immediately sink. Put back in about 20 on the nozzles and arrested that…accelerated to 200, took it back out and then just started to pitch to see what would happen. It definitely isn’t a performer at this weight…but it will hold 180-ish and 25 degrees of pitch and 7500 FPM in the climb. Fun stuff. Can’t wait to see at just a couple thousand pounds if anyone can do that cool airshow maneuver where they go from the hover to sort of pitching and climbing away as the nozzles move aft. That always made an impression on me as a kid…

My skids of shame from the previous landing…

Here we go…!

And with that…I gotta go to bed. Gotta work in the morning. I know, I know. I’m not 20 anymore.

Really fun stuff though…this module really looks ready and is really fun. The nosewheel steering seems a bit linear feeling…I don’t know how to describe that other than to say it doesn’t feel quite as dynamic as the Su-25T, but that might just be the way the Harrier is. But very fluid…very gorgeous HUD and cockpit, and a really fun flight model from the very limited paces I put it through (not to mention not using any real proper procedures…)

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I guess this our payback for when we had the revamped Su-33 while you were in the Caribbean :grin:

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Legit…

Sweaty palms !!!

I have F-5 flashbacks :wink:

Thank you for the preview, looks fun!

Looks very purty. Can any of you purists explain the difference between this and the British Sea harrier that saw service in the Falklands/Malvinas ?

The differences are extensive. First the Sea Harrier is a derivative of the first generation British Harrier. The AV-8B is a Harrier II built by McDonnell Douglas. It has a new, bigger wing with 2 additional hard points and much bigger load carrying ability. Then of course the engine was upgraded. The cockpit is completely new. The old Harriers were largely analog + HUD, while the Harrier II have a fully digital cockpit with MFDs and computers. The Cockpit is very similar to the Hornet actually. Then the Sea Harrier was equipped with a radar (70s tech), as it was primary designed to protect the fleet from maritime patrol aircraft (of course it was used to much greater effect eventually). As the AV-8B was built for the Marines it (initially) did not have a radar. Instead, the sensor of the Angle Rate Bombing System is installed in the nose. Our version in DCS, the AV-8B N/A will additionally have a FLIR sensor installed on the nose that projects thermal vision directly into the HUD for navigation at night. The even more modern AV-8B+ was eventually equipped with the AGP-65 radar, surplus sets from old F/A-18As.

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great info thx for sharing :slight_smile:

@BeachAV8R thx for preview u made my day … cant wait for release and make some cool screenshots with it my self :slight_smile:

Looks awesome. First module I have paid full price for. Can you elaborate on the engine sounds? I don’t know why, but I’m most excited about the engines unique sound the most. Having been around flight deck operations and seeing them in action, that’s what I look forward to the most.

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You mean the thing that sounds like you are sitting on top of an RB211?

Beach, how did you manage to overrun the runway in a jet that lands vertically? That’s some skill, buddy. :smiley:

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@BeachAV8R, you always write the awesomest p/reviews, it’s almost like being there in the pit. :joy:

If I hadn’t already pre-purchased, now I would have. :grinning:

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