I once saw a Harrier Jump Jet coming in for a landing. We were taken up to Dahlonega, Ga. for adventure training to rappel off some cliffs along the Appalachian Trail, not too far from the small military base there. They had loaded us into a sort of portable building, lifted it with a CH54 Skyhook helicopter and taken us to a very small military airport. We were to walk from the landing pad, across the runway to the tower on the other side.

I'd never seen a Harrier Jump Jet before that. When we got near the runway, we had to wait as there was an aircraft approaching to land. As it got closer I recognized it to be a jet of some sort. I looked at the length of the runway and I thought I was going to see a jet in the trees. There was no way a jet coming in that fast was going to be able to land on a runway that short. You could imagine how my jaw dropped when this jet didn't even use 1/2 the runway. He was floating above the pavement at about 10 feet off the surface, did a 90 degree turn and headed for the maintenance building on the other side of the tower. You could have knocked me over with a feather.