Guess I'm outta the loop ?

[jaybee]

I admit, with all my helichopper flying its probably been over a year since I've even been in an airplane...

anyhow... what is all the fuss lately about AOA indicators ?

do they not teach stall recognition/recovery anymore ?

 

[Jim Logajan]

I've wondered the same thing. My Glasair isn't as forgiving as a typical certified and I have no stall horn/light or AOA. It's called knowing your aircraft and recognizing what particular flight profile you're in.

The thing that most of these stall horn & AOA proponents fail to grasp is the panic factor. Stall spin accidents have been happening for decades with awareness devices alerting the pilot.

Disagree with the basic assumption: that AOA is only solving stall-spin.

AOA should help reduce runway loss-of-control (RLOC) accidents, not just stall-spin. The problem is that the average low time pilot is likely going to err on the side of landing too fast than too slow, which ends up yielding more landing accidents.

The average pilot who rents a plane is also unlikely to be able to fly a lot of hours like a Glasair owner can, so is forever handicapped by lack of flight time and aircraft "feel". AOA is a good thing for those fliers.

Lastly, since you have no instruments telling you how often you have approached stall during your approaches, or whether you have been landing faster than you need to, there is nothing other than your simple survival to date to indicate whether you have been just plain lucky or have achieved experienced uber-pilot status. In neither case is your anecdote relevant to the value of AOA indicators to the general pilot population.