G.R. Patterson III wrote:

Hilton wrote:

I don't understand the first part (higher speed and climbing?) and the
second part is wrong.


If I leave the flaps at 0 degrees in my aircraft, bring the power back to
decelerate, and maintain level flight, she will stall at about 53 mph indicated.
The relative wind will be essentially horizontal, since that is the direction in
which the aircraft is actually traveling.

If I leave the flaps at 0 degrees, slow down to 60 mph indicated and raise the
nose enough to stall, the aircraft will be climbing just prior to the stall. The
relative wind will be "coming from above", since that is the direction in which
the aircraft is traveling.

George Patterson
The desire for safety stands against every great and noble enterprise.

I think I see a lot of confusion happening in this thread due to
the use of fuzzy and unnecessary concepts like "relative wind",
"pitch angle", "from above" and a couple of others.

Angle of Attack is simply the angle at which the airflow meets
the wing. There is no need to complicate matters by calling the
airflow "relative", especially as some posters seem to be confused
about what is _relative_ to what.

If we must use "relative" then it would be better to say exactly
what we mean "relative to the wing/aircraft" or "in relation to
the wing/aircraft", but as this is the only relation that makes
sense when discussing AOA it shouldn't be necessary to mention
it at all.

And "wind" is positively misleading as it makes you think of
movement of an airmass in relation to the ground. "From above"
is similarly meaningless, unless we specify whether we mean it
in relation to the wing/aircraft or the horizon.

Cheers CV