Got alpha?
The video is an example of what intuitively appears to be a benign condition: the airplane is speeding up, and the flight path is below the horizon—how could I run out of lift with that much energy? Turns out, it’s easy…all I have to do is exceed the wing’s ability to generate lift.
I can’t say this any better than Vince “Duck” Wawrzynski so I won't try: “Years of training to speed approximations for wing efficiency have created a culture that is inherently susceptible to dangerous flight excursions.” Loss of control is an equal opportunity killer, and we’ve lost too many good pilots in the last eight decades for what remains the leading cause of GA/EAB fatalities. Most of those mishaps occur during day, VMC, light wind conditions.
The two fundamental skills required to fly an airplane are controlling lift and energy, but we can’t see lift looking out the window or at a set of conventional instruments, and the cockpit lacks an energy state gauge. Angle of attack is the “how hard the wing is working” and “power required” parameter. AOA and speed are joined at the hip, so it’s not a debate about which one is better, it’s a matter of providing accurate, timely, ergonomic, directive information directly to the pilot that makes flying easier and safer.
Come and learn more about AOA and energy maneuverability at Oshkosh this year. On Wednesday afternoon, beginning at 1300, the EAA is conducting an afternoon dedicated to AOA academics, discussion and simulator sessions. We are also conducting forums at the National Association of Flight Instructors tent on Monday morning, and in Forum 1 Monday afternoon. And on Friday morning, we’ll dive into the physics and engineering implementation behind accurate pressure-derived AOA theory at the Homebuilder’s Hangar.
Fly safe,
Vac and the FlyONSPEED/TLAR team
FlyONSPEED.org is an all-volunteer, non-profit, open-source organization dedicated to reducing loss of control mishap risk for our EAB and VAF community. Our objective is to lead from the front by demonstrating what is in the art of the doable.
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I think it might be more like this, with Chuck on the far right:
. There is an art to sensor placement when the objective is accurate performance and transient response. I had to fly a vibration test last week with the system disconnected. As a proud tone cripple (hate to fly without it) it was horrific to actually have to look at the airspeed indicator...survived. Barely.
