The "Bird" and AoA
I agree with Machinbird. It used to be possible to see AoA by consulting AIDS via the MCDU2 on the A320, but - whether or not it still is - that's hardly practicable during a jet upset.
As CONF iture knows well, a good ball-park indication, without any actual numbers, is on the PFD in FPA mode (preferably with the FD switched off). The Pitch attitude angle minus (algebraically) the flight-path angle approximates the AoA. For non-Airbus pilots, the latter is indicated by the "bird" symbol. The snag, for this purpose, is that it also shows any drift in azimuth. So, when there is a lot of drift, it is not directly under the little black box* which represents the nose of the aeroplane.
* [black, but yellow inside]
Last edited by Chris Scott; 22nd Mar 2010 at 10:02.
Reason: Attempt to clarify what I mean by "the little back box"...