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HUGELY IMPORTANT!
June 2015--in the , the FAA is making a big push to get AoA indicators installed in General Aviation aircraft.
Read the full FAA inFO document here.
Earlier, in its extraordinarily helpful December 2011 FAA clarification letter, the FAA Small Aircraft Directorate explains that installation is a "minor alteration" on the vast majority of light general aviation aircraft.
A FOLLOWUP in April 3, 2013
FAA/AOPA Committee Pushes AoA
(This is By Glenn Pew, Contributing Editor)
A report on approach and landing loss-of-control accidents has emerged from a work group co-chaired by the FAA and AOPA, recommending that GA "embrace to the fullest extent" angle-of-attack (AoA) systems and work to improve pilot decision making.
The work group advises the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee. Its focus was derived from an FAA overview that found loss of control accounted for 40.2 percent of fatal general aviation accidents that took place from 2001 to 2010. Particular areas of concern included flying after a period of inactivity and transition training, as well as pilot decision-making.
Pilot decision-making remains a focus of safety concerns in general, as 85 percent of fatal accidents can be traced to pilot actions, according to AOPA.
The report notes that controlled flight into terrain accidents have decreased and it attributes that improvement to new in-cockpit technology like terrain-aware GPS units.
AoA systems, says the report, offer pilots awareness of their margin over stall and account for weight and acceleration differences, by design. The report notes that AoA systems offer substantial safety benefits but notes that cost and regulations may produce barriers for the pilots of light aircraft. The FAA "will need to identify the right level of certification," it says. It notes that the FAA should address these issues "with streamlined processes" for certifying and installing new technology that offers "a high probability of safety benefits" balanced against "low safety risk."
Jim Hanson in June 2015: I've landed King Air B-90s with 9 pax plus me on 2400' of grass at Northwest Angle--Lake of the Woods, MN--but with 500# of fuel aboard for takeoff--and I took the pax and baggage out in two loads. The B-90s all had the then-optional Safe Flight simplified AoA on the top of the panel--yes, it was crude and not TSO'd--but it gave a good indication of the lift reserve available--much like the AoAs the FAA has now approved for advisory use. Jim wrote a longer article on AoA for the Minnesota FLYER.
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Recently-published magazine articles, Spring & Summer 2011
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