Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Angle of Attack (was Re: Dogfighting)
Message-ID: <7932@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 5 Jul 89 12:36:32 GMT
References: <7471@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7575@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7903@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Lines: 38
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix)

In article <7903@cbnews.ATT.COM>, caeco!iconsys!tom@uunet.UU.NET (Tom Kimpton) writes:
> From: caeco!iconsys!tom@uunet.UU.NET (Tom Kimpton)
> In article <7575@cbnews.ATT.COM> fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) writes:
> :
> :> alpha == angle of attack.  Now, what's angle of attack ?  Does (I'm
> : [ discussion of AOA related solely to the wing deleted...]
> 
> There was an article in the 22 May 89 issue of Aviation Week & 
> Space Technology, "NASA Adds to Understanding of High Angle
> of Attack Regime", that talks about high angle of attack research
> using an F/A-18. Good article: "The former Navy F/A-18 has completed

Thanks for the reference!  My ignoring of fuselage effects on total
lift comes from having taught general aviation-related ground school
for too long.  Most civil aircraft can get away with ignoring such
things...but modern fighters can't.

Talked to an F/A-18 driver at the Moffett Field airshow yesterday.
(He likes the Hornet a lot.  Though he admitted that he liked *all*
the aircraft that he's flown to date, says that they just keep
getting better and better.  An obvious enthusiast.   :} )

Asked him what the (roughly) 1" x 2.5" vertical tab on the forebody
strake was for, assuming it was related to controlling spanwise airflow
at high AOA.  He said it was secret.  But he'd tell us for $1.
(Nobody in the mob even twitched.)  He relented, and sait it was to
keep the vertical stabs from cracking.  (No smile.)

Earlier versions of the Hornet had some problems with cracking around
the vertical stabilizers.  First fix(es) related to stiffening them, but
didn't help much.  Adding the tabs smoothed out airflow over the
vertical stabilizers enough to cure the problem.

Aerodynamics is still an art.  Probably a black art.