Angle of attack

Bill Daniels wrote:

Controlling airspeed is simply not good enough - it's too abstract, too easy
to triviallize, too easy to misunderstand the significance of it.

snip

As pilots, we do not fly the cockpit, the fuselage or the empenage - we fly
the wing. The wing is really the only thing that does fly, the rest is just
baggage.

While I agree with Bill that stalling the wing is a proximate cause of
stall/spin accidents, I don't understand his conclusion that getting
pilots to understand angle of attack (AOA) will help a lot (or even at
all). The big problem is AOA is an abstract engineering parameter,
because pilots can't see it, can't hear it, and can't feel it. We can
see attitude and airpeed, we can hear airspeed and stall rumble, and we
can feel stick position and stick forces, so that is what we use to fly
by. I sure don't think about AOA when I'm flying.

IF we had a "good" AOA indicator or pre-stall indicator, THEN we might
be able to fly more safely using it. And that is something the soaring
community has wanted for decades, but so far, we don't have any in wide
use. So, I think we need people to experiment with currently available
AOA units, like Safeflight's and DG's. If they seem useful, try them on
students, and see if students learn fly more safely or more quickly. If
AOA indicators seem promising, it might lead to better/cheaper
indicators, and begin to spread throughout the fleet.

Until we can hear it, see it, or feel it, we won't be able to use.

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
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* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org