Redback

1. What's a harrier (the manouvre, not the aircraft)

2. Are sport flyers allowed to do them?

3. If answer to 2 is yes, how do you do them?

regards


Terry

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

A harrier landing is when landing, the tail touches the ground first then slight power is applied to slowly drop the nose.

And yes, if your sport plane is capable of them by all means do them but be careful as doing it wrong has been known to rip the main landing gear out. The Hangar 9 Funtan90 (as an example) requires in most cases to be landed harrier style especially if the CG is way back.

Watch this movie of the Funtana90 and the landing at the end is a harrier landing

http://67.18.81.100/rcuvideos/magazi...73/funvidh.wmv

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Bubba, with all due respect, I would never try to do a Harrier with anything but a 3-D plane. Doing a harrier requires flying the plane with the wing in a stalled condition - which is the definition of 3-D flying (in the video Bubba linked to, you can see the Funtana doing a Harrier back and forth across the field - it's shortly before the part where it hovers in a torque roll)

Try one with a typical sport plane, and you're likely to be bringing it home in pieces.

bubbagates

My Feedback: (32)

Minn,

Wow someone gave me respect. You are correct.

I guess what I should have said was, If you are going to attempt them on a sport plane then be prepared to take the plane home in more pieces than you came with and please be able to do them first with a plane that is designed to do them.

Volfy

My Feedback: (23)

Instead of true Harrier landings, I like using CROW setup with quad-flap equipped airplanes. With CROW, or airbrakes as it is sometimes called, you are also flying with the wing at an high alpha, but not yet stalled. Effectively, CROW reconfigures the wing with extreme amount of washout, so it becomes very tip-stall resistant, even at very slow air speeds.

CROW landings are much easier to do and, because the wing is not stall, it is much safer to do. It is the sport flying's equivalent to 3D Harrier. I love crawling across the runway at full CROW at slower than walking speed 6ft off the ground. Just don't fly inverted with CROW on. Don't ask me how I found out.[&o]

Redback

Thanks for the replies guys.

In my modest selection of model flying machines I have a Modeltech Magic Extra which I believe may be capable of this manouvre. I do some more playing around at altitude before committing!

It's the plane I tend to put into harms way most often as it was cheap and has already been fixed up a couple of times.

Trouble is that because I can fly it like I wouldn't miss it, if I do crash it I probably will.[&o] Does this make sense?


Terry

britbrat

Bubba & Min are correct ---- but you can harrier some non-3D planes if the C-of-G is far enough aft & you have lots of power & control authority. Interestingly, I can harrier several of my old flat-bottomed-airfoil birds when inverted (the airfoil stalls more easily that way). Another "harrier" experience is a vertical ascent &/or descent in strong winds -- you can use virtually any bird to take off & land vertically (with some luck & a great deal of care).

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

I did it once with my Sig Something Extra. The problem was, I wasn't trying to do it. Finger slipped off the stick on landing approach. Reached up and grabbed the stick and yanked back on it and jambed the throttle forward. Pulled into a nose up attitude and I settled the tail on the ground, cut power, and did a perfect harrier landing.

and I couldn't do it again to save my life if I tried!!!!