Smilin_Ed (Another USN guy)
IMHO, AoA is the single most useful instrument you can have to prevent a stall.
And also the single most useful instrument in recovering from a stall. Otherwise, at low speed, how do you know how much to push the nose down? Suppose you are actually inverted? Which way do you pull (push) then?
I didn't always look at my AOA while flying my Navy jet, but if I was maneuvering, it was definitely in my scan. If you ever get AOA in your airliner, try real hard to use it. You don't need it in cruise of course, but when you start to dirty up, you can observe the beneficial effects of slats and flaps very clearly, and with a little practice, you can tell when you need some flap to fly slower.
How to best mechanize AOA presentation has some contention, but it is probably time to develop a standard for airliners. It would be silly to have to train to recognize different types of presentations for each aircraft you fly.
A little bit of software and some free space on your PFD should be all most jet aircraft will need.
The AOA gauge directly answers the question, "How close am I to stalling the aircraft. " You can accurately fly an aircraft
below stall speed in a ballistic trajectory and not stall the aircraft if you mind your AOA. (Of course, you do need some control authority-this doesn't work with tail slides.
)
I'm also thinking the first two "beeps" of stall warning on AF447 were quite possibly caused by the g incurred in the initial pull up! It will be interesting to see the pitch rates developed.