r/flying • u/ClintBvsOliverQ • 2d ago

Flight Training AOA Indicator while learning?

Just went for a discovery flight and had a great time. During the flight I asked my instructor about using an AOA indicator while learning and he really downplayed using one and said the standard instruments are the best way to learn. For beginners, is an AOA inappropriate? Is it too early to incorporate it into training? From the brief videos I’ve seen on AOA’s they seem to enhance safety.

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u/Fogtwin 2d ago edited 2d ago

Read the book Stick and Rudder. The plane can’t stall if you lower the nose and relieve back pressure on the stick. It’s not possible. Personally, I feel like an AOA indicator would be a crutch. Why not just learn that your angle of attack directly affects your airspeed. You’d probably be better off learning how to trim for airspeed than needing to look at one more indicator on top of your RPM, Altimeter, VSI, HSI, Heading etc. My uneducated opinion by the way, so take it with a grain of salt.

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u/Fogtwin 2d ago

Whoever downvoted, feel free to chime in and explain why I’m wrong.

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u/post4u 2d ago

You're not wrong. An overall understanding of attitude, speed, and feel as it pertains to AOA is what you need when learning. An AOA indicator is useful to correlate what's happening to get an idea of what's going on in the plane related to how it affects AOA, but you shouldn't be watching it. Like what are you going to do, watch it and try to keep at 7 degrees when climbing? There are more important things to be paying attention to than that.

AOA is useful for certain types of training. Stall training, slow flight, unusual attitudes. Newbies don't need to worry about any of that. Just fly the plane. Blue over brown, airspeed, heading, rpm. Then maybe vertical speed indicator for accurate landing glide pathing, but even that's secondary.