It is long past time that every airplane should come equipped from the factory with an angle-of-attack (AOA) indicator.
Most new airplanes are already festooned with fancy glass display avionics, and adding AOA to an existing integrated flight deck is almost a no-brainer. At the worst, the airfamer would have to modify the wing slightly to fit a proper stall vane, but most of the work would be a simple software upgrade. And these software upgrades have already been developed and certified by avionics manufacturers, so it’s not that big a deal, nor should be it be that expensive. Even aftermarket glass can display AOA. Aspen Avionics is an excellent example of this and offers an AOA display that can be added to its Evolution display without any hardware; it’s simply a software upgrade.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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