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See How It Flies

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wlawr005

wlawr005

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pilot
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I stumbled across this link while doing some extracurricular reading...great for anyone who ever wanted to know more about airplanes, develop better habits in the cockpit, or get ahead of the power curve in Primary.

See How It Flies
 
Interesting. It's like a little bit of API in a website. The writer has a hard-on for using AOA. This is good. My flying is so much better now that naval aviation has turned me on to AOA. I just wish civilian planes had AOA gauges.
 
I thought they would be equal in straight and level flight...but differ when the plane is climbing or descending (relative wind not horizontal).

Not arguing...just asking :)
 
Angle of attack is the angle between the chord line and the relative wind. Therefore, in straight and level flight, it's likely that you'll still have a positive angle of attack.
 
Since that little bit of positive AOA from the wing geometry is fixed (i.e always present), couldn't straight and level flight be a pretty good datum for AOA in an aircraft with no indicator?
 
Seems to me like it's good professional knowledge but that's about it. Helping one fly, not so much.
 
wlawr005 said:
I thought they would be equal in straight and level flight...but differ when the plane is climbing or descending (relative wind not horizontal).

Not arguing...just asking :)
Click to expand...

No, straight and level flight itself has very little to do with angle of attack.... and it depends on what you mean by straight and level. If you mean constant altitude and no bank (wings level), well then AOA would depend on your speed and configuration. Think about this: If you do slow flight at 70 knots (or whatever), but hold altitude, your AOA would be higher than say 170 knots holding altitude.

Now, if your nose is straight on the horizon... a slow airspeed could result in a sink rate... because your relative wind (what determines AOA) is changing and your chord line is remaining the same.
 
To further validate what Ryan is saying... The T-34 flying at 1015# and ~190 knots will have a negative wing pitch but the AOA will indicate ~2-3 units (-ish, it's been a while, but that's what I remember). I think I just made my head hurt.
 
I get it...all of the examples I read were based on a constant airspeed and altitude, my understanding was limited to that particluar situation.

I brought up the AOA questions because we frequently use the TOFT at Oceana, and do stupid stuff like try to land on the boat. A basic understanding of these things help me win beers by being the last one to crash, or the closest to the boat WHEN I crash. My problem was too little power and too much AOA, a great receipe for disaster turns out :)

Thank you for the responses...I KNOW that this kind of stuff is trivial info for someone who isn't even in flight school yet, but it interests me and I like talking airplane. I hope people interested in stick and rudder stuff continue to post questions here.

*By the way, I'm an engineering major...so don't be afraid to geek out on the lift vector stuff and other aero crap. This can be a geek haven for us all.
 
Gatordev said:
To further validate what Ryan is saying... The T-34 flying at 1015# and ~190 knots will have a negative wing pitch but the AOA will indicate ~2-3 units (-ish, it's been a while, but that's what I remember). I think I just made my head hurt.
Click to expand...

YUCK!!! What the!!?? LOL
 
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