Landing with damage

So,

Not sure if its me or bugged or WAD. But it seems like most of the times when I take damage, the plane seems to fly fine, no warning lights etc so pretty minor damage from a SA18 or whatever that barely missed/hit. I goto land after dumping off stores. The moment I deploy flaps to land, the harrier basically just rolls to one side (usually right) and boom, its done. Anyone else experiencing it? Prior to this using auto-flaps, no problems with controlability, pop flaps and whee ride is over.

Yes, same here

are both flaps working?

Yeah I thought of that. If one is deploying and the other not, then it could be the cause. I just haven't had a chance to check the external model because I'm dead within a second or two of doing it since its at low alt and I'm typically flying this online and those track files are absurd.

If I get damage I usually deploy flaps and get the speed down below 150 with plenty of altitude due to this. Usually catches me out when if flaps full down and then get below 150 it pitches me over.

Depending on the damage you took, it might have punctured the RCS bleed air system, meaning your plane will fly fine under wingborne flight, but when you go into jetborne flight and your flight surfaces begin to lose their stabilizing authority, this leaking bleed air will result in the plane going out of control.

Hi Chicken,

Thanks for the reply. I don't suppose there is a warning light for that? And IIRC last time it happened I was at 200+ kts so plenty of wing lift and it happened as I dropped flaps/gear, though RCS would explain things going wrong as I slowed down for hover landings in the past. I don't suppose there is a good way to check damage to these systems?

Unfortunately I don't think there's any indication except perhaps having a wingman do a BDA check for holes near where those bleed air pipes are. IIRC, the checklist or student guides mention that if you suspect damage to the RCS to attempt a CL.

I figured as much. My visual f2 BDA showed the peppering texture near the engine but not much else like a missing flap or wing bit.

Any damage to the following locations could hypothetically cause problems with the RCS and resultant uncommanded maneuvers. The RCS system activates and strengthens as you nozzle in, and the slower you go the more pronounced those effects will be.

This may not be the actual cause of the problems you're facing, but just keep it in mind to rule out the possibility of RCS damage when you experience these landing issues.

Are those currently modeled? That's the other half of the issue is that I don't know what's actually modeled and what's not.

Also I'm wondering if the asymmetry might be related to punching off an asymmetrical load before going to land, I had 1 damaged mav (yes weapon fail is now modeled) that I dropped first. I know that was a long discussion topic but though that it had been fixed.

I was told by Razbam staff that RCS damage is modeled but I don't have a reliable way to simulate or verify it myself.

Well, thats good enough for me.

First thing that would happen in this case, is you would have your wingman check you out for damage. If flying as a single and damage is suspected, you should climb above 10k and perform a controllability check. The procedures for this are in NATOPS (16-3). Based on your findings from doing a controllability check, you would determine what type of landing to do. Any type of RCS damage and your best option is a conventional landing because the RCS is not energized with the nozzles aft.

Yeah I'm using external view to do the damage check which is sort of useful, I don't think there is any "severity" that shows up, its just a texture with some bullet holes in it so it can tell you if there might be damage in that area, but if you are missing half flap or something I don't think it shows up.

And I do a higher altitude control check (flaps/gear). Hadn't thought of doing it with nozzles down though, I'll add that to the list. But 90% of the time I'm doing CTOL in the harrier when damaged anyway. I mostly don't bother with FARPs with the online servers due to the really limited loadouts VTOL limits you to. I wish they would add road bases...

And now you see the real life implications of being a jump jet pilot. Lol Operating off of the boat allows us to be expeditionary, but not carry a lot of ordnance. Operating off of 12k’ runways lets us carry a lot, but then all the compromises our airplane makes for V/STOL become for nothing.

Bottom line is if you suspect trailing edge damage, I would avoid using the flaps. Split flaps or flaps that don’t program together will induce the rolling moment you described. Something to consider if you’re doing a conventional landing with the flaps turned off/beeped up is that you will be landing really fast. Recommend a straight in and try to not touch down above the tire speed of 180 knots GS. Also jettison any ordnance and dump down to internals to get as light as possible. With no RCS damage, you can also use power nozzle braking to help you stop.

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