OK Guys,
Finally got a break in weather.
I finally got a harrier but the transition from flying on the wing to hovering on the prop is really sensitive. Do you think moving the CG further aft will do anything? How much aft do you guys go at a time.
There is a lot of throttling to go into a harrier. I tried to do it like the 35 and 40 percenters do ( pop the nose up and add throttle) It does'nt work that way for me.
The wing still does a lot of rocking just before it starts to Harrier.
Any ideas?

were is the CG now?
how does it fly inverted with the present CG?
move it back with about a 1/4 oz of weight at a time on a bird of that size.

Krayzc

The aft CG limit on the plans is 6"behind the leading edge of the wing. My CG is 6 1/2" in back of the leading edge. I'm using the battery to shift the weight back and now I'm to the point where I'd have to add some wire to the battery to put it back any farther.
I believe I'm going to add a phenolic tube to the rear of the airplane so I can stuff it with lead to play with the CG. As of right now it is almost where I want it.
It does a neat inverted hovering flat spin and I'd like to get it to climb in this attitude.
Hover is no problem. Backing down in hover needs some work.
Knife edge loop is no problem. It flys very slow and so far I'm having a good time with it. I belive after a few more gallons of fuel it will do about anything I want it to and maybe somethings I never knew I could do.

i had one up until a few weeks ago. i truly enjoyed mine, right now i am ringing the Morris Sledge out. i may get me another s'ko soon.

If hovering is no problem then you should be ok.

I find it easier to think of the harrier as a tilted hover. Just put the plane into a hover but stop a few degrees short of vertical and go from there.

I needed to harrier first to bring it low enough to the ground to go to Hover. My objective was the tail touch. I'm getting close.

I find it easiest to pull into a "tilted hover" at 15 ft. Then lower the throttle just a touch and the plane harriers down to the ground as low as you want until you add that touch of throttle back to maintain height. I find this the safest and easiest way but I could be the only one

What I have been doing is bringing it down low and slow at about waist height. I pull into a hover and it's 10 feet in the air. As I throttle back the nose falls out. I guess the CG is too far forward.

Some of that could be CG. Fly inverted, it should almost fly hands off, just a touch of down needed to hold level flight.


The harrier is a real balancing act. Are you running out of up elevator when the nose falls out? More throw? Nose too far forward? You may have to burp the throttle to "kick" the tail back under the nose. Burn lots of fuel, practicing is half the fun.

I'm having trouble backing down while in a hover. It's very stable in hover. I just want to throttle back a bit and desend to the ground in a hover. As I throttle back a click at a time it seems to just drop out nose first. There is something I'm missing.

prop selection also helps in backing down in a hover. On my morris knifes. I had one that hovered and backed down great with an 11x4, and a 11.5x4. But on my new knife, (same size and brand engine) It would hover , but I could't get it to back down. So I tried and 12x4APC and everthing is perfect.

You can also hold the plane more vertical, and feed it right aileron while backing down. Holding right aileron while backing down while vertical will help the plane from torgue rolling.