posted 09-17- 10:13 AM               

Changes this version...
Update for Alpha 3 (Sept 17, 2000)

The only change in this release is the flight characteristics. You can open the plane in OPS and see how I did it.
I basically used the control stick from the cockpit, put it in the center of the plane with an 800 pound weight (a little flat square) at the end of it so when the stick moves any direction the weight would go that way also to get the response better. This worked well at times when the nose would start going too high, to bring it back down.

Also I've reworked the fuselage and it still needs a few tweaks but I wanted to get this out for any opinions you may have for the overall model. Once the fuselage tweaking is done it's texture time!

A quick note, for who knows why, there are occasions where you may try to do a vertical take off from the very beginning of a runway. I've found that going forward a little bit first (say 10-20 feet) keeps the thing flying more straight up. If you don't do this sometimes the plane wants to tip back on it's tail. It won't always but sometimes you may see this happen. I think it has to do with the end of the runways being a bit sloped... I'm not sure though. Enjoy it, it's only gonna get better from here on out.

posted 09-17- 10:17 AM               

Ok, everyone should get the SM only zip now. I just did some more updates to the fuselage. Just extract it to your FS/Media/aircraft/Harrier folder. Throughout the coming days I'm going to be updating it often as I want to be finished with it and move on to other projects.

posted 09-17- 08:28 PM               

Congratulations! The Harrier is pretty good.
I'm impressed with all plane: cockpit, glasses, pilot head (controlled by the joystick) and VTOL features.

posted 09-17- 10:15 PM               

So I suppose you are right, there is a forward-ness needed to keep it flying but it can fly very slow and still is fun I think.

ANYONE who wants to is welcome to tweak away and try to get it flying better. That'd be great! So if you Aladar or anyone else want to experiment please do (you know with adding additional engines and so on).

I basically added a joystick with an 800 pound block attached to one end. It's sticking UP from the center of the plane, and when you move the joystick forward for example, this block (image it's sitting up over your actual joystick you are flying with) moves at the same time and proportionally to your inputs forward over the airplane to basically add weight towards the nose so it will respond quicker and tilt the nose down a little bit, then NOT having that extra weight there. I was trying to achieve a better sense of balance and control, especially when flying at a hover and gaining some speed. Before the nose would eventually pitch up and you'd fall backwards into the ground. This way the nose has more weight with the stick forward and it flys better. But it also works when trying to slow down in a hover, it'll tilt the plane backwards (and to the sides for turning as well).

Thanks Jag and Loco

posted 09-19- 11:19 AM               

This jet is great fun! Thanks.

No critizism here - it is an alpha after all, just curious, do you know why the screen image shakes slightly to the left and right? I ask only because I see a similar effect with the f4u - although much less noticeable.

Thanks,
Condor out

posted 09-19- 11:58 AM               

Glad you like it though

Just found out last night that my little fix (that weight idea) has ruined the AI flying it I just tried a mission where two were suppposed to take off and then never did. The just slowly drove down the runway. Bummer.