Twos in
"Purely anecdotal, but in keeping with PPRuNe, Art Nalls allegedly gets little if any support from BAE or RR for his plane on the grounds of commercial liability, so he has to beg, borrow and steal to keep it airworthy. Something intrinsically ironic in the fact the the FAA will allow a private ex-UK Harrier to operate in the US."
I don't think he ever asked BAE and I believe Rolls Royce rejected the request very rapidly. Bear in mind, the jet had a wheels-up on an early flight because they'd removed the emergency u/c lowering so RR's attitude might be justified. The US is a bigger place than the UK and there's plenty of space to lose the jet without landing on someone.
son of brommers
"Back to the Harrier question, why does the UK CAA have such a seemingly negative stance on ex-mil jets operating, if the Yanks can do it why can't we? I'm sure that there is enough expertise and funding to keep a couple flying with the right sponsorship/support."
The report on the South African Lightning might go a long way to explaining and even validating the CAA's stance. It won't be long before its issued.