[HOW TO] Harrier Landing - Vertically

[AlphaClient]

Landing the Harrier vertically is possible!!

All in all it has to do with having your landing gear out, enough altitude and the correct airspeed- as with any aircraft. The trick with the harrier is going back up in altitude AND KEEPING YOUR LANDING GEAR OUT! The manuevers are a bit more advanced but make sense considering the harrier is a VTOL class aircraft and has great capabilities for carrier duties. Hovering is just a secondary landing gear for short runways incase of overshooting

Steps: (while in flight)

1. Adjust airspeed to landing speed and approach some earth. Harrier = less than 600 airspeed. What you want to do it hold between 550 and 590 airspeed and come within 100 altitude of the ground.
2. Change views to check if landing gear is out
3. Add throttle but maintain less than 700 airspeed and climb to 400+ altitude. (around 550 airspeed during the climb is what I aim for so it doesn't take so long to get to neutral)
4. Once above 400 altitude, neutralize the throttle untill it hits 1% and go full reverse throttle. (the VTOL won't kick in untill your airspeed is less than 350 - takes a total of 5 seconds before you will notice it starting to respond)
5. Continuously try to pitch the nose up until it becomes level from hover. Steering left or right will help you "spin" down and adds style points untill the hover kicks in

Tips:
The landing gear will only come out when you are close to land and under 600 airspeed. One of the best ways to get it to come out is do a slow fly by or even touchdown and take back off (touch and go). As long as your airspeed is less than 600 you can fly over any type of land, even a mountain, and have it come out BUT remeber it is hard to lift at that slow speed. ALWAYS check to see that your gear is down by switching camera views. Once you confirm the gear is down, ease into the throttle so you get some lift back and continue to climb. The landing gear will stay out as long as your airspeed does not exceed 700. Between 550 to 650 airspeed is perfect for the climb to 400 altitude.

You must be at 400+ altitude or above to coast down safely and still have time for the hover to take effect. Check landing gear, neutralize the throttle to 1%, then full revese. then try as hard as you can to keep the nose up at a good angle while slowing down, even when you begin to "fall". This will help keep you level as you decend. A little left or right steer helps you for some reason and looks cool... like you are in a stall. Then all of a sudden you come into a level hover and glide in!

Mental checklist while trying this:
1. Gear is down : gain altitude
2. Altitude is 400+ and gear is still down
3. Neutralize throttle to 1% then full reverse
4. Steer left or right to "feel" out the hover

**EDIT** Here are two videos demonstrating it. One is what it looks like from the cockpit, the other is an external view.
1. Cockpit: http://www.xfire.com/video/af920/
2. External: http://www.xfire.com/video/af88b/
3. The best way I have found to take off: http://www.xfire.com/video/af8ff/

A side note...
I know this is a beta and it really could use some work. I do hope some after burners and stuff get added but I will post all of that in the correct area. Please give comments or suggestions.

[Cptkanito]

tbh m8, i really don't see the point to telling this to everyone. 1) The Harrier is still in Beta and may not even be released, we just don't know yet its early days ...and 2) The performance of the Harrier, even if it is released will be significantly different than what it is in the training mode for Kashan Desert. So why put time into something which will no doubtedly handle differently if and when its released into the next PR release.

[Hitman.2.5]

Yeah the harrier is still WIP and the devs have been having alot of trouble with it, plus why post it now when its only in training mode where any one can practice how to land it for them selves i see where you are going with this though but its not entirly needed YET

[AlphaClient]

It was basically my findings... I do hope they keep a VTOL Fighter bomber in PR though. I looked around and heard the question come up so many times... it can be done!!
If me posting this helps anyone in anyway, I have contributed to a game I love and feel the need to share. Maybe I can bring it some popularity for carrier maps in the future, who knows.

[Cptkanito]

well its not exactly gonna be unpopular

[Hitman.2.5]

///XD\\\

[AlphaClient]

After playing with the harrier for a few weeks now, I have noticed some traits that are un-important but may help others succesfully VTOL land.

Add-ins:
1. Landing speed = less than 600 airspeed. Landing gear will not come out untill you are less than 100m altitude. Holding 590 airspeed and cruising low to the ground should get the gear to come out.

2. Harrier's minimal response speed is around 450 airspeed. This is when you are fighting to keep it from falling out of the sky. THB it is easier with a joystick because you can hold the stick back constantly while adjusting the throttle... I don't know how you keyboard/mouse people do it, lol.

3. When at 400+ alt, it is best to try keeping the nose pointed up while going neutral/full reverse. The actual "reverse" change over will not happen until the Harrier has slowed down to an airspeed of 350 or less and takes about 5 seconds to take noticable effect. So staying level or pointing to the ground is bad... that would only make you gain unwanted airspeed as the "hover" kicks in (while you seemingly stall out).

Side note:
I am going to make another video of how to VTOL land and get it added to this thread by this weekend. The new one will be shorter and easier to see what is happeng as I had an influx of people asking me to do so. Seems the first one was hard to follow.

[AlphaClient]

Added the Vids to the first post, included a take off too. I am willing to help anyone learn how to dio it. You can find me in a trainning server almost every night.

[SocketMan]

Nice work man.If people think you're wasting time - it's you time to waste

Wip or not it's on the training map and people do try it - your findings will help them out and who knows someone tries it,really likes it and decides to start making models for
PR (for example).

[CAS_117]

Originally Posted by Cptkanito

well its not exactly gonna be unpopular

whodathunk?