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Date: Thu, 27 Apr 2006 22:59:34 -0400
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Subject: AOA
Thread-Topic: lml Digest #1586
Thread-Index: AcZpvERYQuMfxv5HQ4e7g75sm/cXcQAU1Y+g
From: "Halle, John" <JJHALLE@stoel.com>

Terrence O'Neill writes:

<<The US Navy put AOAs on every carrier plane in 1956, and cut (very=20
professional pilots') landing accidents 50% !! the first year.>>

I flew some of those planes and there is no question that AOA was an =
essential tool for carrier-type approaches and landings (which Navy =
tactical pilots do whether the approach is to a carrier or not.)  Those =
approaches are flown at or near L/Dmax and are very different from the =
kinds of approaches flown by civilian pilots (or, for that matter, the =
Air Force.)  The airspeed indicator was neither accurate enough nor =
quick enough to handle these kinds of approaches.  There simply is no =
reason for any experienced civilian pilot to get anywhere near stall =
speed low except in a flare over the runway and therefore no need for =
the kind of precision and quick response afforded by an AOA.

I don't have a problem if someone wants to put an AOA in their airplane =
but if they are relying on it to tell them when they are close to a =
stall, I highly recommend that the go out and practice stalls or =
approaches thereto (at various g loadings) until they know what an =
approach to a stall feels like.  We also did ACM in the same Navy planes =
equipped with the same AOAs but no one looked at them during ACM -- =
there was no time and looking away from the target was a serious =
mistake.  We flew on the edge of stall by feel.

Looking at a number of recent accident reports makes me think that a =
number of  non-military pilots have a problem with understanding =
aircraft performance at high angles of bank and high g loadings.  We get =
the idea of how to avoid 1g stalls in the pattern fairly quickly but I =
see report after report of experienced pilots stalling out while pulling =
high g's low or trying to get to a runway after an engine failure by =
doing a very steep turn and not understanding what happens to sink rate =
if you do that.

Anyone that is truly concerned about inadvertent stalls should carefully =
consider taking some serious unusual attitude training (not the stuff =
you do for pilot certificates but serious unusual attitudes.)  If you =
still have money left after that, by all means, put in an AOA if you =
like it.