?? Lift Reserve Indicator ??

On 14 Feb 2006 08:29:37 -0800, "wright1902glider"
wrote:

I'm not familiar with any vane-type AOA indicators that could be
mounted on a strut, but that doesn't mean that they didn't exist. If
anyone knows of one, I'd like to see it.

I saw a very simple one in Kitplanes years ago. It was a vane
attached to a backing plate that was painted white, and had degrees on
it, and a big red area that represented the critical angle of attack,
beyond which the airplane stalled.

It was mounted to the wing strut in a vertical position so that you
could see it by turning your head left. Or right, it doesn't matter
on which side you mount it.

There were other versions of this that connected the vane to a
transducer which then transmitted the angle of the vane to a display
on the instrument panel.

I've always thought this (AOA indicator) was a good idea.

Corky Scott

"wright1902glider" wrote in message
oups.com...
The last vane-type indicator I witnessed was hanging on the strut of a
New Standard DB-25 (circa 1926). It was an airspeed indicator and
appeared to function quite well from my perspective in the forward-left
front seat.

Orville Wright used a vane-type device in the autopilot system he
invented. While this was the world's first functional autopilot, it
never became popular. Sperry's gyroscopic autopilot system hit the
market shortly after, and was superior.

I'm not familiar with any vane-type AOA indicators that could be
mounted on a strut, but that doesn't mean that they didn't exist. If
anyone knows of one, I'd like to see it.

Harry

I don't recall whether I saw the one on the New Standard personally, or in a
picture, as it was still flying at Sun-n-Fun a couple of years ago. It may
well have been a picture as I didn't go up. IIRC, it looked, more than
anything else, an AoA calibrated as airspeed at some typical
loading--probably gross.