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Old 8th Jan 2016, 09:38
  #24 (permalink)  
Capot
 
Join Date: May 2007
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I do understand the thought behind "rather have AoA than ASI". But in my dotage I tend to drift off a bit......

.............It's a gusty day, maybe 10 Kt to 20 Kt, 30 degree X-wind, and young Lucy, who has been taught to use an AoA indicator from Day 1, and is now flying solo circuits on an aircraft with one, 6 hours after getting her PPL.

Her approach is watched by people who notice that she seems to be over-controlling with the elevator, and that she is having difficulty staying on the centre-line.

At 300 ft or so, the nose drops in a stall from which she does not recover. RIP Lucy.


Now, I wonder what caused that? Would she have been better off watching her airspeed like a hawk, and keeping it a few knots high because of the gusts? Did the AoA indicator kill her? Perhaps she should not have been flying on that day, but she had a PPL and a mind of her own. That's not the point, which is that the AoA indicator is obviously useful, but could be a very false friend if you don't really know how to fly.

Perhaps I'm just over-cynical about magic bullets.
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