Angle of attack and pitch attitude
I've just read Bill Palmer's book 'Understanding Air France 447', and I'm a bit puzzled when he mentions the aircraft at times having a very high angle of attack (30 to 40 degrees) when at the same time the pitch attitude is around 8 to 12 degrees - I can't visualise how this is possible, surely if the AOA is that high the nose must be pitched up at a similar angle? I'd have thought that the only significant difference between the two angles would, for example, be due to the wings being at an angle to the fuselage horizontal centreline.
Disclaimer - I'm not a pilot, just a very interested and reasonably(?) knowledgeable aviation enthusiast.