Can some one explain Angle of Attack while an aircraft is airborne?

Answer 1

The first thing you need to understand is the 4 forces that affect an airplane in flight. For an airplane to fly straight and level at a constant airspeed, thrust (forward motion) needs to equal drag (friction pulling it backwards) and lift (keeping the airplane up) needs to equal weight (or gravity, pulling it down). Lift is created by air flowing over the wing. If you draw a line from the front of the wing to the back, you have what is called the chord line. The angle between the chord line and the relative airflow is the angle of attack. Note the term RELATIVE airflow- it has nothing to do with the direction the airplane is pointing - it is the direction the chord line is travelling through the air.
If the airplane is in straight and level flight you have a low (not zero) angle of attack. If you reduce power, drag will be greater than thrust and you will start to slow down, leading to less lift and a descent! You can maintain altitude by increasing the angle of attack (raise the nose and therefore the chord line) - increased angle of attack gives more lift. Now you will be flying slower but still holding altitude.
If you bring the power to idle (less thrust = less lift) and hold the nose level, the plane will start descending and the airflow will therefore be hitting the chord line at a steeper angle (increased angle of attack). At a certain angle (critical angle of attack) the airflow will separate from the wing surface and the wing will stall.

Answer 2

Visualize the wing as a cross section. Draw an imaginary line from the middle of the leading edge (the edge facing the wind) and the trailing edge of the wing (the edge the wind passes over). This is called the "chord line". Now draw another imaginary line representing the relative direction of the wind. The angle between the two of these is the angle of attack.

Answer 3

The angle of attack is simply the angle at which the wind flows over the wing, an angle of attack of 0 means that air is flowing directly over the wing as it should... has nothing to do with climbs or descents, its just that wind is not hitting the bottom of the wing more than the top.... in slow flight, angle of attack increases... simply put, if the nose of the plane is up, and your not climing, you have a poor angle of attack, likewise if the nose is up and you are climbing on the exact plane of the nose, angle of attack is 0... if you have the nose level and you are losing altitide but have a level nose, you have a high angle of attack, if the nose is level and you are level, your angle of attack is 0... as simple as I could make it...

Answer 4

The term is used to describe the angel created by the pitch of the wing to the airflow of wind or the direction the aircraft is moving. The amount of lift generated by the airfoil of the wing is directly related to the angle of attack.

Answer 5

Angle of Attack (AoA) is the angle between the plane of the wing relative to horizontal.

Visualize a ships rudder turning in the water moving from left to right. Just turn the image on its side so the rudder moves up or down.

The higher the angle the more of the underside of the wing is catching air. With sufficient thrust a high AoA will result in a climb. Insufficient thrust and high AoA results in rapid loss of airspeed eventually leading to a stall...loss of airflow over the wing.

Answer 6

It is the angle that the leading edge of the aerofoils (wings) to the relative airflow. There is an optimal angle for each aircraft. If your angle of attack is too great then the aircraft will stall (i.e lift will be lost)

Answer 7

AOA is the angle between the cord of the wing and the relative wind.
Increasing the AOA increases lift up to a point, and increases drag.

Answer 8

Simple, the angle is the space between the chord line to the relative wind!

Answer 9

AOA - Stick your hand out the window of a moving car. When it rises/falls due to changing your hand pitch, you understand AOA. When your hand pitch is so extreme that your hand goes straight back and almost snaps your arm, it's because your hand just exceeded AOA and it isn't flying anymore.

-RJ

Answer 10

the angle of attack is the position of the aircraft in the relative wind. so if you are flying stiaght and level and not climbing or decsending, you do not have an angle of attack. if you start to climb, you are increasing your angle of attack.