Originally Posted by
markkal
Great analogy, in other words the angle of attack is the angle between where the aircraft nose is pointing (In the case of the dish let's suppose its falling flat therefore the "nose" would be more or less pointing towards the horizon, and where the aircraft is going: vertically down.
Only in still air. If there's a headwind component the dishes AoA will be some number less than 90 degrees, if a tailwind the AoA will be some number more than 90 degrees.
It's the relative airflow that matters which is affected by wind.