Originally Posted by
VicMel
And it is not just AoA vanes that are a Common Mode Failure by design, the 3 (or 4) pitot tubes for measuring TAS are all same technology, all located near to one another. The purpose of AOA sensors is to detect an imminent stall; a more direct measure (possibly a second source for a plausibility check) would be a pressure sensor built in to the upper and lower wing surface. It need not use holes, if something as mundane as a mobile phone can distinguish between a tap and a swipe, there must be other new technologies out there that could be used.
How about this - you could drill a hole in the leading edge of the wing, slightly below the stagnation point. Using some flexible tubing, you could connect this hole to a kazoo or harmonica mounted in the cockpit. At a high angle of attack, the stagnation point will move below the hole, and a vacuum will exist at the hole, drawing air through the tube and sounding the kazoo.
You could even test it during pre-flight by applying oral suction. One would presume that this would be an FO task.