Just for fun, where was I / guess the cockpit
Discussion
Not familiar with the Harrier- close-up, but fascinating aircraft from its era, when we were still global innovators in jet aviation.
Presumably the give away is the yoke control co-functioning as a cyclic, but instead of a swash plate adjusting the pitch on the rotor blades, a similar device must be coordinating the vectoring of the engine thrust?
Bet that was a tricky development process.
Presumably the give away is the yoke control co-functioning as a cyclic, but instead of a swash plate adjusting the pitch on the rotor blades, a similar device must be coordinating the vectoring of the engine thrust?
Bet that was a tricky development process.
Geneve said:
Not familiar with the Harrier- close-up, but fascinating aircraft from its era, when we were still global innovators in jet aviation.
Presumably the give away is the yoke control co-functioning as a cyclic, but instead of a swash plate adjusting the pitch on the rotor blades, a similar device must be coordinating the vectoring of the engine thrust?
Bet that was a tricky development process.
It was much simpler - The control column controlled both the aerodynamic flight control surfaces and and, at the same time, a series of small reaction ducts in the nose, tail & wingtips which pushed bleed air from the engine out in a varying amount (dependent on control inputs), causing an equal/opposite reaction.Presumably the give away is the yoke control co-functioning as a cyclic, but instead of a swash plate adjusting the pitch on the rotor blades, a similar device must be coordinating the vectoring of the engine thrust?
Bet that was a tricky development process.
There was a seperate flight control for the engine nozzles, a small lever just inboard of the throttle to move the nozzles from full aft for CTOL all the way down to 90° for STOVL and then slightly forward to 97° if needed.
That kept everything fairly independent for attitude control and engine control between CTOL and STOVL controls.
On the other hand the UK's F-35B does something almost magical in the way blends the CTOL and STOVL controls in the cockpit, actually swapping the functions of the throttle and control column depending on which mode the aircraft is currently in, with an amazing blend between the two so the pilot doesn't "feel" any difference, despite the same controls doing something completely different between CTOL and STOVL.
Edited by IanH755 on Saturday 9th November 17:06
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