Fly-By-Wire Harrier

With all the crashes this plane has endured, wonder why no one thought of this before?

Under the hood of the latest Harrier is a revolutionary new system called vectored-thrust aircraft advanced flight control (VAAC). Designed by QinetiQ's predecessor, DERA, with funding from the US-UK Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) Office, VAAC uses advanced "fly by wire" technology to turn over many of the Harrier's flight characteristics to computers. This makes the aircraft much simpler to fly and enables engineers to fine-tune it quickly for improved handling, based on pilot feedback between sorties. It also provides valuable data for use in flight simulators.

The Harrier, with its unique swing-nozzle engines, continues to be the leading "Short Take Off, Vertical Landing" (STOVL) aircraft, and remains essential to the US Marine Corps, Royal Navy and RAF. Its two-seater cockpit has been modified to accommodate VAAC, which enables the rear pilot to assume full control of the aircraft.

I would also suggest this as a JSF replacement, if the vertol version fails to pan out. Probably cheaper and in service sooner.