I just saw this on another forum. I didn't know if it was brought up here before, so I figured I'll post it for your interests.

https://www.big-boys.com/articles/harrierfalls.html

The people that posted comments on that site are freakin idiots. Thank God for baseops! BTW- When did the Air Force acquire Harriers?

Found another article explaining what happened somewhat. It seems the harrier pilot moved the throttles to full, while at the same time moving the nozzles to horizontal. Therefore, all the downward thrust was removed and the plane went for a swim! Here is the Link:

https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england...olk/3330045.stm

I'm not familiar with the control layout in the scarrier, but I'm pretty sure that it's operating at mil pwr when hovering. Maybe he swipped the throttle back when he meant to move the nozzles horizontal.

Moving the nozzles horiz is a typical part of the harrier show: just tilts the plane back so that it looks like it's flying off near vertical. Makes for a good show. Take the throttle out of mil when hovering: picture wile-e-coyote just after he steps off a cliff.

Wasn't he operating kind of close to a large crowd of people scattered along that beach?

Why are you talking about a Harrier crashing? Harrier's crash quite often.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the Harrier's gotta be at or close to mil power in the hover. The demo is awesome though, especially when they transition from the hover and go straight into the vertical climb. The Harrier is a beast, it's got a lot of power.

Did you read the comments from the kids who posted on that website. One guy said it was a remote controlled jet because the battery ejected from the plane just before it crashed. That is too funny.

Originally posted by c17wannabe:

The people that posted comments on that site are freakin idiots. Thank God for baseops! BTW- When did the Air Force acquire Harriers?

I think the title of the clip referred to an "Airforce" jet because it was from the Royal Air Force.