Nalls Aviation - Home of the Sea Harrier

‘Jump jet’ gets drafted for civilian flying duty

Former Marine flies his own ‘hot rod’ Harrier

By Matt Thurber
AINonline
Saturday, March 1, 2008

Nalls asked his ground crew to meet him at Pax River and kept trying positive-g maneuvers to force the gear to come down, which it finally did. The Harrier ended up hovering perfectly. “There was plenty of thrust, plenty of control and the engine performance was there,” Nalls said. “It trimmed up nicely and we did a very soft vertical landing.” The landing light, which acts as a secondary indicator that the nosegear is down, was on. Shortly after touchdown, the nosegear collapsed and the nose fell about five feet onto the ground. This flight turned out to be the first time a civilian pilot has ever hovered any aircraft with jet thrust, according to Nalls, and he is asking the FAA to issue him a special rating for powered lift (no rotating wings like a tiltrotor).

The Harrier suffered damaged gear doors, a broken com antenna and a snapped-off pitot-static boom. Some ribs inside the nose were also damaged, but since they no longer have to carry a heavy radar they aren’t of structural significance.

To get the broken Harrier back to St. Mary’s, Nalls had to make arrangements with the local police to tow it in the middle of the night the eight miles from Pax River to his home airport. Patrons exiting local pubs on the route were more than a little surprised to see a Harrier being towed down the road surrounded by a police escort with Nalls sitting in the cockpit wearing a bright red Santa suit.

New parts were easy to find this time and Nalls and crew expected to have the Harrier ready to fly again this month, after more extensive hydraulic system testing. This time, Nalls plans to keep the landing gear down for a while, practice more takeoffs and landings, then expand the envelope.

This summer, he hopes to start flying the regional airshow circuit. He plans to equip the Harrier with a smoke system and show audiences moves that the Marines can’t do in their more modern AV-8B Harriers.