Nalls Aviation - Home of the Sea Harrier

After a thoroughly successful first flight Saturday, we had a setback today. Thankfully, we briefed very professionally and covered every conceivable contingency. It’s a good thing we did.  Our chase (Ricardo Traven in his Baron) and our Landing Signal Officer (LSO) Joe Anderson (another former Harrier test pilot) went over potential emergencies and we, as a team, agreed that certain emergencies would be best handled by a divert to Patuxent River Naval Air Station with its long runways, a VSTOL landing grid and active Crash Crew…good plan.

On our first flight, we stayed gear down, got airborne and comfortable again.  After all, it’s been 16 years since I’ve actually flown a Harrier and it’s just me in the cockpit.  I did some slow flight and then back for a slow (100kt) landing.  Takeoffs equaled landings and by all accounts, a huge success. I lost my radio early in the flight, but fortunately, we had briefed this contingency.  The chase picked up all the radio calls, as I flew the briefed profile.  The radio problem was corrected on the ground- a simple comm cord.

For our 2nd flight, we scheduled cycling the landing gear, increasing G turns, mild acrobatics (aileron roll, wingovers, approach to stalls, etc) and some cruise performance, followed by 3 Short TakeOff’s (STO’s) and 3 Slow Landings (SL). We put vertical work on hold until we had a “feel good” about the slow work.  After takeoff and the initial landing gear cycle, with the chase aircraft close aboard, all systems appeared normal.  I continued with our test card for steep turns up to about 3 G’s.

Approximately 15 minutes into the flight, I got a “hydraulic 1” warning light.  Since fuel was not a major concern, at this point, I lowered my landing gear early and secured the fuel flow proportioner, the first procedures in the emergency checklist.  My chase plane broke out the emergency checklist and as a team in constant communication with the LSO, we stepped through the procedures and discussed our options.  All landing gear indications remained unsafe, confirmed by the safety chase.  A vertical landing was our best bet and Pax River was the safest place to do it.

While orbiting overhead he airfield and in contact with the Pax River tower, we tried positive and negative G maneuvers to let gravity help us lower the gear- none of which gave us a positive response.  There was simply no pressure in the system and gravity was unable to overcome the aerodynamic loads.

I arrived in a hover over the VSTOL grating at Pax with the Sea Harrier looking like all landing gear down (confirmed by the LSO to include an illuminated nose gear approach light), but still unsafe indications in the cockpit.  After a gentle touchdown, I was rewarded by an abrupt collapse of the nosegear and starboard outrigger. Our Sea Harrier rests undignified on her nose, but unbowed.  It probably looks worse than it really is.
There is no evident engine damage, only cosmetic nose abrasions, and some minor skin wrinkling.  At this point, that appears to be the extent of the damage.   My estimate is that this has set us back by 90 days (2 weeks in Art-speak). I may be wrong, but once we know for sure the extent of the damage, I will realistically report what must be accomplished and go from there.

We will not be deterred from our ultimate objective of showcasing our Sea Harrier.  In fact, these past two days have demonstrated quite a lot.  First of all, we FLEW!   We actually flew an airplane not many believed could fly, and we can operate from a small airfield.  We have a beautiful flying airplane!  I can’t tell you how great this airplane flies.  Many pilots prefer the Sea Harrier to the AV-8B and I now know why.  We also have an extremely powerful engine, just right for breaking those time-to-climb records.

If we go no further than we have, we’ve managed to fly a Sea Harrier for 1.5 hours over two flights.  That, itself, is significant, but we’re not done yet….

Last night and early this morning, we have had several team meetings. No ego’s here and no holds barred.  Brutally honest and fostering the belief that we may not be perfect, but we are professional - and a team.  We have a list of “lessons learned” and WHEN we fly this airplane again, we will all be the better.

Now it’s time to get back to work.  We’ve got an airplane to fix.

Sincerely,
Art Nalls