Stable flight without roll?

[DimSim]

Returning to the Harrier after a long time, I can't believe, or remember how unstable this aircraft is with respect to roll.

Even with the AFC on and Alt Hold, and well trimmed, the aircraft will roll and drift. The tiniest bump of stick will continue to roll in either direction, at least a little.

I added a curve of 15 to my joystick to assist with finer control.

For most aircraft with wings, tail and similar stabilizing features, once you have some speed, there is a wind vane effect which keeps the aircraft quite stable. This reminds me more of a beach ball!

 

My questions are:

1) Has the flight model changed in the last year, increasing sensitivity or decreasing stability?

2) Am I missing some aircraft control or flight technique to maintain heading and eliminate roll?

 

It's entirely possible I just forgot how the aircraft felt after flying fly-by-wire for most of the last year.

[kotor633]

As with the A-10 or the F-14: You always have to trim out the Harrier more or less. I can't remember that the Harrier was ever any different.

[BigMotor]

Hey DimSim, I noticed this also when coming back to the Harrier. The AFC used to solidly engage and trim your aircraft even with a bomb dropped from one side. Now it is very finicky about engaging.

 

I did find one remedy - Use the AFC with flaps in AUTO (Cruise mode seems to make the engagement very sensitive).

[DimSim]

Thanks for your comments, and thanks BigMotor, I'll have to try the Auto Flaps.

I'm finding it, not so much difficult, but requiring constant vigilance, just to fly straight toward a waypoint with a trimmed and AFC enabled craft.