PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - American Airlines Flight 742 "flight control system" problems
Old 11th Mar 2013, 13:14
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RetiredF4
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
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Alexander de Meerkat
.......but from what I understand you are saying that if the pitch attitude on the artificial horizon (PFD in Airbus parlance) says 2 deg then you would see that as an accurate readout of AoA. That is absolutely not the case and the crew's misunderstanding of that was ultimately what killed everyone. It is entirely possible to have the pitch attitude around 2-3 degrees and still have an AoA of 20-25 degrees, which was the case here
How true.

But note, that bubbers 44 is making his statement in relation to level flight (bolding by me)

bubbers44
Rereading your post, 2 degrees nose up attitude does mean 2 degrees angle of attack if you are in level flight
Although there is not an exact match under all conditions (especially dynamic ones like turbulence), it is a usable one and would not have killed them.

But to use that info there is a need for basic understanding what AOA is, what it does and what influences it.

Last edited by RetiredF4; 11th Mar 2013 at 13:16.
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