PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Air Asia Indonesia Lost Contact from Surabaya to Singapore
Old 4th Dec 2015, 08:21
  #3587 (permalink)  
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So you're saying that the pilots who ignored a multitude of obvious indicators, would somehow magically look at the tiny AoA indicator in a high stress situation and all would be well?
The AoA Indicator could surely improve aircraft safety, if it would be a primary instrument from the first flying lesson. It would be essential to understand that Stall is not an airspeed issue, and to use AoA to maintain a margin to stall. Unfortunalely on a typical SEP you can not install a reliable AoA indicator... So this discussion is pointless.

Hell, even the Wright Flyer had an AOA indicator.
Unfortunately the typical aircraft design evolved from there, and the propeller mounted at the nose of the fuselage became the standard. So now we all rely on the Airspeed indicator, which fact is one of the must useless instruments we have. AoA and Ground Speed are the two parameters we need to know.
AoA tells you all you need to know about the aerodynamic situation you are in.
Ground speed is what you need to plan your further flight (arrival time etc.) and to navigate.
IAS is totally worthless, as you need several other paramters to really draw a valid conclusion from it.
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