I've been mainly practicing doing the classic VL onto the AK. Not used the water for extra power and no weapons -although fuel level is pretty high on the first attempts and drops as I do 'circuits'. Managed to do about 8 or 9 in a row now without bending it. 2 of those have been 'good', one not satisfactory at all and the rest in between!
Bloomin' great fun and what true flight-simming should be -seat of the pants style...
If it helps, here are some screens with the most important details of how I currently aim to approach the deck, hover to the left and swing in and drop -under control where possible...
