Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!samsung!news.cs.indiana.edu!att!cbnews!cbnews!military From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Autorotation of Harriers Message-ID: <1990Dec12.031644.10789@cbnews.att.com> Date: 12 Dec 90 03:16:44 GMT References: <1990Dec6.021723.18639@cbnews.att.com> <1990Dec11.015341.26439@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: U of Toronto Zoology Lines: 18 Approved: military@att.att.com From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) >From: Mike Smith x3297 >Do any of you Harrier experts know if the AV8B/GR5 has a system where the >vectored thrust nozzles automatically rotate downwards as airspeed decreases? I'm not aware of one, and am skeptical; at the very least, there would have to be a manual override, or things like ski-jump takeoffs would not be possible. (Ski-jump technique is full thrust *forward* until you hit the jump, at which point the nozzles are moved to a compromise angle that continues forward acceleration but provides some lift as well. I think.) Takeoffs in general, in fact, wouldn't be practical without an override, since Harriers very rarely make true vertical takeoffs -- even a very short takeoff roll greatly increases payload. -- "The average pointer, statistically, |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry