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| What is your angle of attack? |
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| The angle between the chord of the wing and the horizon |
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| The angle between the chord of the wing and the relative airflow |
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| The angle between the chord of the wing and the slope of the ground |
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TomGalvin
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Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 3563
Location: ............... Pagosa Springs, Colorado
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 Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 7:20 am Post subject: Angle of attack |
 #1 |
I was on launch with an H2 the other day. It was the first time I had met them. Another experienced pilot I knew and trusted who had observed them before had given me a good overview of their skills and experience to date. I went over the site, flight plan, what to expect, things to watch out for, and then asked a few questions. The one that I always ask is what is your angle of attack? I used to be surprised at how often it stumped people.
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tom emery
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Joined: 24 Sep 2011
Posts: 664
Location: san diego
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 7:38 am Post subject: Angle |
#2 |
| Glad to get that one right. Here's a tip from my instructor Rob Mckennzie : Look at the wash out struts to get the wings level in pitch. Start slow and accelerate smoothly. TEASE THE GLIDER INTO THE AIR. |
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Jason
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Joined: 02 Jan 2007
Posts: 7606
Location: Stapleton, Colorado
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 7:48 am Post subject: |
#3 |
my angle of attack varies based on who i am hunting 
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CAL
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Joined: 05 Mar 2009
Posts: 3468
Location: OGDEN, UT
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 7:50 am Post subject: |
#4 |
you know i don't think about my angle of attack as much as i feel it, there are two things that we do when we balance our wing into the wind, roll and pitch, in a lot of wind it is easy to know if the glider is balanced, since this topic is about angle of attack, if you can move your glider in such a way that does not feel like the glider wants to pitch up or pitch down and you can still run with the glider that is the proper angle of attack.
we all know that we walk jog run. in no wind or light wind and we feel the weight of the glider this becomes much more difficult to feel, during the walk phase is when we make the proper pitch adjustments that will allow us to accelerate the glider, of coarse the walk phase in much easier if you have the right angle of attack to begin with, so it is important you have a good angle of attack to begin with
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Explore nature from the eyes of an Eagle |
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jyoder111
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Joined: 17 Dec 2009
Posts: 251
Location: Virginia, USA
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 8:21 am Post subject: |
#5 |
| Quote: |
| in a lot of wind it is easy to know if the glider is balanced, since this topic is about angle of attack, if you can move your glider in such a way that does not feel like the glider wants to pitch up or pitch down and you can still run with the glider that is the proper angle of attack. |
First time at the dunes in high winds, it was startling to find that while standing still I couldn't easily find and maintain an AoA where the glider felt pitch-neutral with the glider still on my shoulders. I had to let the glider rise and start flying before I'd even taken a step. Weird experience for a mountain pilot who normally begins the launch run with a loose hang strap. |
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AIRTHUG
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Joined: 09 Aug 2007
Posts: 6162
Location: Point of the Mountain, Draper, UT
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 8:41 am Post subject: |
#6 |
| CAL wrote: |
| you know i don't think about my angle of attack as much as i feel it. |
Be careful with this Cal (and everyone else, too).
An example: Cal flies a U2... but has said that some day he'd like to move to a T2. The forward rake of the control frame is different from a U2 to a T2.... so if he lifts the glider up and holds his shoulders and hands where he does on his U2, the angle of the wing will actually be different...
Another example: On a shallow launch the nose will be higher, relative to the horizon (and gravity) than on a steeper launch. On a shallow launch, the glider may feel tail-heavy... but on that steeper launch, it may balance differently. If it's REALLY steep, it could even feel nose-heavy. The feel changes, AofA doesn't....
I'm a huge advocate of flying by "feel"... but you also need to stay focused on what's important... how the glider feels when you hold it on launch is not as important as angle of attack.
Hope someone learned something new from that 
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BLOG: www.AIRTHUG.com
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CAL
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Joined: 05 Mar 2009
Posts: 3468
Location: OGDEN, UT
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:41 am Post subject: |
#7 |
| AIRTHUG wrote: |
| CAL wrote: |
| you know i don't think about my angle of attack as much as i feel it. |
Be careful with this Cal (and everyone else, too).
An example: Cal flies a U2... but has said that some day he'd like to move to a T2. The forward rake of the control frame is different from a U2 to a T2.... so if he lifts the glider up and holds his shoulders and hands where he does on his U2, the angle of the wing will actually be different...
Another example: On a shallow launch the nose will be higher, relative to the horizon (and gravity) than on a steeper launch. On a shallow launch, the glider may feel tail-heavy... but on that steeper launch, it may balance differently. If it's REALLY steep, it could even feel nose-heavy. The feel changes, AofA doesn't....
I'm a huge advocate of flying by "feel"... but you also need to stay focused on what's important... how the glider feels when you hold it on launch is not as important as angle of attack.
Hope someone learned something new from that |
there is only one thing that you got wrong on the following post
i am very happy with my U2 for the very reason you stated, not that i would worry about my angle of attack but the fact that i would not want to learn another gliders characteristics, i love my U2 and want nothing more than to get very dialed into it
other than that i agree with everything you stated about Angle of attack, i tried to explain that your angle attack feels much different when the wind is blowing hard versus light wind, i agree that there is a different feel to every Site being it be the steepness or the amount of wind blowing, with that said no matter how high the wind is blowing the angle is still the same and the steepness determines where you hold the nose and has nothing to do with the horizon,
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TomGalvin
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Joined: 07 Nov 2006
Posts: 3563
Location: ............... Pagosa Springs, Colorado
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:51 am Post subject: |
#8 |
| CAL wrote: |
| with that said no matter how high the wind is blowing the angle is still the same |
I adjust my angle of attack depending on the velocity of the wind. I prefer to get off the hill with more airspeed than trim for better control, and more ground speed to clear the terrain quickly. On high wind days that means a lower angle of attack to get those extra steps.
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CAL
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Joined: 05 Mar 2009
Posts: 3468
Location: OGDEN, UT
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:07 am Post subject: |
#9 |
| TomGalvin wrote: |
| CAL wrote: |
| with that said no matter how high the wind is blowing the angle is still the same |
I adjust my angle of attack depending on the velocity of the wind. I prefer to get off the hill with more airspeed than trim for better control, and more ground speed to clear the terrain quickly. On high wind days that means a lower angle of attack to get those extra steps. |
though it feels like you are holding the nose lower i am not sure you really do, when i am launching in high winds i am fighting for everything i have to keep the nose down to do as you mentioned and get that extra airspeed, i love it when i win the glider and that happens. sometimes the glider wins and launch to soon
in no wind it is just as important to keep the nose down as well so you can accelerate the glider
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HangDog
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Joined: 08 Aug 2008
Posts: 1484
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:10 am Post subject: |
#10 |
The angle between the chord of the wing and the relative airflow is the correct answer.
However, recognizing this when standing still for a launch looking at the nose plate and the horizon is totally different depending on the wing. As I looked at a Falcon I had my nose plate from what I remember to just around 3 to 5 deg above the horizon line or what I imagined the horizon at based on how the wing sat on my shoulders if I couldn't see the horizon at all but this will come natural once you fly a wing long enough, you'll know just where it needs to be setting on your shoulders and what the nose should look like also for each and every wing out there.
My Mark IV-19 I use to have, I set the nose pretty much on the horizon or no more then 5 deg high when launching that wing simply because of the airfoil design. I've always like to have a good airspeed and not too much AOA to stall the bottom surface of the wing.
If there was a good head wind like at POTM south side then it didn't matter about running at all because you didn't have to so the AOA would take over lifting you gently into the air but again making sure the AOA was more level then higher for that particular wing.
HANG CHECK! |
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bobknop
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Joined: 28 Feb 2012
Posts: 76
Location: Holland
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| Posted: Wed Jun 27, 2012 10:40 am Post subject: |
#11 |
See this video a t0.55min,it shows aoa exactly from the side.
This was taken at the dutch coast.
It is in todays blog at the oz report.
http://youtu.be/kFsCOyNT5RU
Regards .Sitting Bob. |
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