Aircraft Make & Model:
British Aerospace SeaHarrier FA2
Certification: Experimental exhibition
(former Military surplus)
Length: 46 feet, 5 inches
Wingspan: 25 feet, 3 inches
Height: 11 feet, 10 inches
Maximum gross weight:
26,200 pounds
Empty weight: 13,400 pounds
Fuel capacity (gallons): 653 internal,
390 external
Seats: 1
Powerplant Make & Model:
Rolls-Royce Pegasus Mk 104 turbofan jet
Horsepower: 21,600 pounds static thrust
Cruise speed:
Approximately 360-380 knots
17,500 feet, 65 percent rpm
(this is to be compatible with
an L- 39 in formation)
Fuel consumption: 1. 8 gallons/mile
Normal cruise operationally:
24,000-40,000 feet,
0.72-0.84 indicated Mach
Equipped for:
Day visual flight rules only
VNE: 650 knots
Max speed reward/sideways: 30 knots
VSO: 160 knots (approximately)
VX: 400 knots/0.8 indicated Mach
Max rate of climb:
Approximately 50,000 fpm
Max roll rate:
More than 720 degrees per second
For more information:
By 1979, Art had graduated from the United
States Naval Academy, joined the Marine Corps,
and earned his Wings of Gold as a jet pilot. Art
wanted to fly fighters, and the F- 4 Phantom was
No. 1 on his wish list. His second choice was the
A- 4 Skyhawk, and his final selection was the
AV-8A Harrier. Art was less than enthusiastic
when he was selected for the Harrier.
“It had a horrible reputation,” he said. “Many
pilots thought it was a difficult and busy airplane
to fly. I was a bit apprehensive to say the least, but
that all changed when I took my first Harrier ride.”
Art, EAA 689513, understood the simple the-
ory behind how the Harrier operated. When the
pilot rotated the nozzle lever in the cockpit, he
manipulated the four nozzles—two on each side
of the fuselage that directed the thrust from the
single Pegasus turbofan jet engine aft or down-
ward so the Harrier could accelerate forward or
lift off vertically.
Although the theory sounded simple, Art had a
hard time trying to comprehend what he was
experiencing. “I strapped into the back seat of a
two-place Harrier, checked in on the intercom,
and was told to shut up and hang on,” said Art.
“Everything after that was a blur! The Harrier
leapt into the air and accelerated forward like a
rifle shot. By the time we had reached the end of
the 8,000-foot runway we were doing over 450
knots—I mean, we were cooking!”
With a single-place Harrier on either side of
him, Art followed along as the formation dropped
some practice bombs. After the pull-up from the
bombing run, the wingmen quickly changed roles
and became adversaries of the two-place Harrier.
The fight was on!
“I was amazed at what this airplane could do,”
said Art. “It could roll, climb, dive, slice and dice,
and turn on a dime. But the most amazing thing
about that first flight was when we came back into
land. My mind could not believe what my eyes
were seeing as this once fast-moving jet was now
hovering. Even before we touched down, I was
thankful that the Marine Corps had made the right
choice for me—I was hooked on Harriers!”
Art quickly learned the tricks and traits of the
V/STOL (vertical short takeoff and landing) com-
bat jet and eventually joined squadron VMA-231,
the Ace of Spades. Art flew with them until 1985,
when he was selected as the single Marine Corps
candidate to attend the U.S. Air Force test pilot
school at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
During his time at Edwards, Art flew a variety of
aircraft—virtually everything the U.S. Air Force
had in inventory.
Art graduated and returned to the Marine
Corps and continued his test flying at Naval Air
Station Patuxent River, this time in the new and
improved second-generation V/STOL AV-8B
Harrier II. One of Art’s assignments as a new test
pilot was to take a Harrier up to 45,000 feet and
shut the engine off and see if he could restart it.
“I have over six hours of flight time in single-
engine jets without the engine running,” said Art.
“At 45,000 feet I would shut everything down,
glide back down to 25,000 feet to make sure the
engine was nice and cool, and then attempt a
restart. If I couldn’t light the engine, my only
choice was to become a glider pilot and set the
Harrier down on the dry lake bed below.
Thankfully I was always able to restart them.”
Art also was the first person from the western
world to be granted a flight in the Russian V/STOL
aircraft, the Yak- 38 Forger. He assembled a joint
U.S. Navy/NASA test team and received an official
invitation to visit Moscow and fly the Forger and
the simulator for the newest supersonic Russian
V/STOL variant, the Yak- 141 Freestyle.
By 1989, Art was back with the fleet and in the
process of working up a Harrier detachment to
take overseas. Art eventually retired after 22
years of service and started a real estate business
in the Washington, D.C., area. It didn’t take long
for him to start looking for an airplane to fly.
“I ended up buying a Russian Yak- 3 fighter, of
all things,” said Art. “It was very hard getting
used to flying behind a propeller rather than a jet
engine at my back side. The Yak- 3 and I developed a ‘love/hate’ relationship; when it flew
great, all things were wonderful, but when something broke on it, it was always expensive to fix.”
A jet guy at heart, Art sold the Yak and bought an
L- 39. Then he started to hear rumblings about
some British Harriers that might be for sale.
“I began to look at some statistics for what air
show promoters wanted at their venues,” Art
said. “I found that the Marine Corps gets more
requests for the Harrier than the Blue Angels and
Thunderbirds combined.” He also knew that if he
got a Harrier and operated it in the proper environment—picking the right weather and the right
pilots with everything choreographed from
startup to shutdown—it would be well worth the
gamble to find a flyable Harrier.
THE SHAR
Art received word from his contacts in England
that an FA2 Sea Harrier, affectionately called the
“SHAR” by the Royal Navy, was available and he
needed to make a quick decision because there
was another bidder. With his finances secured
