I was asked to repost this on spectrum from reddit so it might be seen by CIG. I feel the real issue with hovering looking artificial isn't as much of a control issue as much as it is an issue of visual feedback. Take the video of the Harrier below for example: The main problem with small ships hovering is that they don't seem like they're making any effort whatsoever to stay afloat. Even a light aircraft such as an Arrow is still almost 31 metric tons. That's more than twice the mass of the heaviest Harrier ever produced. To keep such a ship aloft in Earth's gravity would be around 304kN of thrust! The most powerful Harrier can only output just over 100kN of thrust. So in point there should be much more of a visual indicator of the massive amount of air movement needed to keep these ships aloft. We should be seeing: Thermal shimmering in the air due to the ionized air pumped out by the VASIMR thrusters. Condensing moisture due to the rapid changes in temperature and pressure could create more visual indicators of thrust. This would look like a white wispy smoke moving down in the air currents a good ways away from the nozzles. A complex VASIMR thruster system like this would probably intake atmospheric air instead of or supplementative to the internal propellant reserves. Turbulence from this much thrust would cause a slight wiggle in the ship that the negative feedback control loop wouldn't be fast enough to account for. Down draft currents should throw up a lot of dust and debris when getting close to the surface of a planet. Because you're most likely in an atmosphere the ionizing effects of the air would be more dense which could lead to larger plasma plumes out of the thrusters. While it's not technically a visual indicator sound is important none the less to help indicate power. The amount of air movement happening here would be intensely loud.