Pitch is everything
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Pitch is everything
When I was doing my PPL, my instructor mentioned that when he was first learning to fly his first instructor had said 'Whatever plane you fly - pitch is everything', He (my instructor) then said that it was only when he had around 800 hours under his belt that he truely understood what his instructor had meant.
As a lowly 100 hour PPL, I think I know what he meant (I'm assuming it was that nothing is more important than AoA) but that's not exactly what he said, so perhaps I'm still in the dark.
Discuss.
As a lowly 100 hour PPL, I think I know what he meant (I'm assuming it was that nothing is more important than AoA) but that's not exactly what he said, so perhaps I'm still in the dark.
Discuss.
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I am even less experienced than you, but to me I can see what your instructor meant. As long as you are always aware of what is going on around you, and fully understand how and when to adapt your pitch accordingly, you should never get into too much trouble. (ie with or without power etc). Am I wrong?
HB
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High Wing Drifter I have never heard that term before, learn something knew everyday.
Did you think I was referring to the 3 P's? If not and you were infact talking about Sans Anoraque's instructor, correct me if I'm wrong, but would he not have said "3 P's if referring to it?"
ahaha
HB
Did you think I was referring to the 3 P's? If not and you were infact talking about Sans Anoraque's instructor, correct me if I'm wrong, but would he not have said "3 P's if referring to it?"
ahaha
HB
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Sans Anoraque,
Being a bit pedantic here, but you are more correct than your instructor when you say "Nothing is more important than angle of attack". If you get to depart successfully from a high density altitude airports you will notice you climb out at a more shallow angle. The angle of attack is the same, but the pitch attitude is less because the relative wind is coming from a different direction when at high DA. So pitch isn't everything, and thinking that way can be dangerous if in the mountains
Being a bit pedantic here, but you are more correct than your instructor when you say "Nothing is more important than angle of attack". If you get to depart successfully from a high density altitude airports you will notice you climb out at a more shallow angle. The angle of attack is the same, but the pitch attitude is less because the relative wind is coming from a different direction when at high DA. So pitch isn't everything, and thinking that way can be dangerous if in the mountains
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When we learn to fly we do it by numbers. Climb-out speed, cruise speed, approach speed etc. We even use that dreaded term 'stalling speed'.
But what we are really doing is setting an Angle of Attack for the wing. And while under certain steady-state conditions A of A can often be related directly to a speed, it is far from always so, and a pilot should always think A of A rather than speed.
A of A is the only thing the wing ever thinks about.
The best way to gain an appreciation of A of A is to do an aerobatics course. You will soon experience zero airspeed with no stall, and stalls occuring at very high indicated airspeeds. But the stall will always take place at a particular A of A for any given wing - it never varies (unless the wing varies - like extending the flaps).
That's what he meant, and he was dead right.
SSD
But what we are really doing is setting an Angle of Attack for the wing. And while under certain steady-state conditions A of A can often be related directly to a speed, it is far from always so, and a pilot should always think A of A rather than speed.
A of A is the only thing the wing ever thinks about.
The best way to gain an appreciation of A of A is to do an aerobatics course. You will soon experience zero airspeed with no stall, and stalls occuring at very high indicated airspeeds. But the stall will always take place at a particular A of A for any given wing - it never varies (unless the wing varies - like extending the flaps).
That's what he meant, and he was dead right.
SSD
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Mad Jock, sorry I've only jsut read that thread, but although your question to me has been answered by others, I would have said the same thing IO540 said, "Makes a vast difference to the workload of flying." By trimming the aircarft, you calibrate the aircraft control column to a new neutral position do you not?
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SA's instructor said 'whatever plane you fly, pitch is everything'. Not pitch trim - which varies in importance from aeroplane to aeroplane depending on how heavy the out-of-trim forces are. But coud never be described as 'everything'. Some simple aeroplanes don't even have it, and in many others it can be ignored.
A of A is absolutely everything in flying. It's the wing that flies, and A of A is the only thing the wing cares about. Not speed (at least not until mach effects become noticable), not how overloaded the cabin is, not how hot it is, not how much 'G' you are pulling - nothing except A of A. Of course, many of these things change the A of A, but the wing knows nothing of that. All it knows is A of A.
That's why that instructor (nearly) said: "whatever aeroplane you fly, A of A is everything".
Have a read of that superb book that every pilot should read - Stick & Rudder. That explains it all, in a most understandable way.
SSD
A of A is absolutely everything in flying. It's the wing that flies, and A of A is the only thing the wing cares about. Not speed (at least not until mach effects become noticable), not how overloaded the cabin is, not how hot it is, not how much 'G' you are pulling - nothing except A of A. Of course, many of these things change the A of A, but the wing knows nothing of that. All it knows is A of A.
That's why that instructor (nearly) said: "whatever aeroplane you fly, A of A is everything".
Have a read of that superb book that every pilot should read - Stick & Rudder. That explains it all, in a most understandable way.
SSD
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To be fair SSD, it was 'Stick & Rudder' that lead me to that conclusion anyway.
I don't remember AoA being stressed all that much in my initial training. Perhaps it's easier for newbies to initially think in terms of airspeed?
Anyway, thanks for the interesting replies from the more experienced. Keep 'em coming.
I don't remember AoA being stressed all that much in my initial training. Perhaps it's easier for newbies to initially think in terms of airspeed?
Anyway, thanks for the interesting replies from the more experienced. Keep 'em coming.
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As I said in an earlier post, we are taught to fly 'by numbers'. That's because the concept of A of A is not easy to grasp until you've been flying for a while, so to teach A of A from day one would be very difficult, since the student would have no 'background' to apply it to. So by the numbers it is.
However, afer we've been flying a while we should have begun to realise that 'by numbers' isn't the whole, or even the correct, story. That's when we can start to think 'A of A' and fly 'A of A'.
When we are students, it seem counter-intuitive at the stall to have to pitch the aeroplane nose-down to recover from a condition where the aeroplane is already descending. If you're thinking 'A of A', it's the most natural thing in the world to do and is instinctive.
Edited to add that the one instrument I'd really like in the Chippy is an A of A indicator. But they seem to be the presrve of fast jets and Concorde.
SSD
However, afer we've been flying a while we should have begun to realise that 'by numbers' isn't the whole, or even the correct, story. That's when we can start to think 'A of A' and fly 'A of A'.
When we are students, it seem counter-intuitive at the stall to have to pitch the aeroplane nose-down to recover from a condition where the aeroplane is already descending. If you're thinking 'A of A', it's the most natural thing in the world to do and is instinctive.
Edited to add that the one instrument I'd really like in the Chippy is an A of A indicator. But they seem to be the presrve of fast jets and Concorde.
SSD
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One could argue for ever which one thing is "most important" in flying. Based on actual accidents one could say that checking there is juice in the tank might be important 
However, I would argue, for general GA flight (not aerobatics) and in the context of a 45hr PPL and typical PPL pilot currency:
If AOA becomes actually critical to flight, and if this happens frequently, then the pilot will end up dead pretty soon.
One just doesn't operate an aircraft that close to the line.
However, I would argue, for general GA flight (not aerobatics) and in the context of a 45hr PPL and typical PPL pilot currency:
If AOA becomes actually critical to flight, and if this happens frequently, then the pilot will end up dead pretty soon.
One just doesn't operate an aircraft that close to the line.
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Edited to add that the one instrument I'd really like in the Chippy is an A of A indicator. But they seem to be the presrve of fast jets and Concorde
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If AOA becomes actually critical to flight, and if this happens frequently, then the pilot will end up dead pretty soon
One just doesn't operate an aircraft that close to the line.
.
One just doesn't operate an aircraft that close to the line.
.
A of A is flight. It's all the wing knows about, the whole time it's flying. And if you're flying an aeroplane, what you are really flying is a wing. The rest of it is just there to enable the wing to do its job (tailplane etc), to give the crew somewhere to sit (fuselage), and to add energy to the equation (engine and fuel system - these latter are optional in that gliders dont have them).
That's why SA's instructor said what he did.
SSD
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Agree that AoA is everything.
However, as has already been pointed out, most of us don't have an AoA dial. Therefore, for non-aerobatic flight, we use a combination of pitch and power to produce the required AoA.
Most people have no problem setting the required power. But it takes a bit more experience to be able to set an attitude automatically, without having to think about it. And if you can do that accurately, then your AoA will be correct, and the aircraft will perform correctly.
(Stik - can't speak for IO540, but I love aeros. However, I'm not suitably qualified to talk about how to judge AoA when doing aeros, although from my limited experience I'd say that the flightpath can vary sufficiently that the attitude is no longer a suitable indicaiton of AoA, which is why I've excluded it from my general statement above.
)
FFF
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However, as has already been pointed out, most of us don't have an AoA dial. Therefore, for non-aerobatic flight, we use a combination of pitch and power to produce the required AoA.
Most people have no problem setting the required power. But it takes a bit more experience to be able to set an attitude automatically, without having to think about it. And if you can do that accurately, then your AoA will be correct, and the aircraft will perform correctly.
(Stik - can't speak for IO540, but I love aeros. However, I'm not suitably qualified to talk about how to judge AoA when doing aeros, although from my limited experience I'd say that the flightpath can vary sufficiently that the attitude is no longer a suitable indicaiton of AoA, which is why I've excluded it from my general statement above.
)FFF
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