Originally Posted by Interested_Layman
Question from ignorant SLF, the BEA report quotes different values for AoA and pitch at the same point in time.
Are these not the same datum?
Pitch is the aircraft attitude vs. the horizon, while Angle-of-attack is wing airfoil vs. airflow direction (an air vector is needed but may be calculated by Inertial Reference). When you have a pitch of 0 deg and an AoA of 90+ deg, you are in "ligne de vol", but you are falling down vertically. BEA says that [edited: pitch was 16.2 deg at impact and AoA was not valid].