would an AOA indicator be helpful in a glider?

On Jun 9, 1:45*pm, bildan wrote:
On Jun 7, 2:14*pm, bildan wrote:



On Jun 6, 6:21*pm, "
wrote:

Some good info on AOA systems for lightplanes, including theory and
installations, at:

http://www.advanced-flight-systems.c...s/AOA/aoa.html

This system uses flush ports on the top and bottom of the wing, along
with pitot and static inputs, to measure the Cl of the wing in real
time (and derive AOA). *No probes or vanes needed.

With a glider, you would have to connect the tubing when rigging - but
you could use pitot/static quick connect for that.

Too bad our market is too small *- a dedicated system for gliders,
installed at the factory, would be nice - especially if integrated
with an glide computer to share processing power, etc.

There was also a totally passive Cl meter (using pellet-in-tube
technology!) that was described in detail in a old (70s?) issue of
soaring.

Kirk
66

Careful reading of their installation manual suggests that it might
work with nose ports.

I just got an e-mail from Advanced Flight Systems indicating that one
of their units has been installed on a glider with top and bottom
nosecone ports. *The glider was apparently a Sparrowhawk and the unit
works great.

Since the AFS system is available with flap position sensors and
standard LED displays, it appears to be exactly what we need.

Cool. They need to cost-reduce it. $890 is a bit steep for a glider
installation.

9B