Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!military From: shafer@drynix (Mary Shafer) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Dogfighting Message-ID: <7509@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 16 Jun 89 03:34:00 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 27 Approved: military@att.att.com From: Mary Shafer Bill wrote: [mod.note: For those of us unfamiliar (me included)... I take it alpha == angle of attack. Now, what's angle of attack ? Does (I'm guessing from context) an alpha of 30 degrees mean the plane can fly level with its nose 30 degrees above level ? - Bill ] Yes, angle of attack (AOA) is alpha (alpha is shorter to key). The angle of attack is the angle between the fuselage reference line (FRL) and the relative wind vector, which is to say the flight path. The reason that alpha is more important then pitch (the angle between the FRL and the surface of the earth) in discussing the flight characteristics of an aircraft is that the aircraft flies in the relative wind. If someone would like to take the time to `draw' it for the newsgroup, I'll gladly send a xerox of a diagram showing this. M F Shafer |Ignore the reply-to address NASA Ames-Dryden Flight Research Facility |Use shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov NASA management doesn't know what I'm doing and I don't know what they're doing, and everybody's happy this way.