I believe you are confusing the wing angle of attack with the pitch of the aircraft. Aircraft moving at a slow, near-stall speed, despite pointing the nose up, will still be traveling more or less horizontally. Their VSI instrument will read near zero. Whereas, if you take an aircraft moving quickly and pull the nose up to the same angle, the aircraft will, obviously, climb rapidly.
Why does this matter? The angle of attack is defined based on the wing's motion through the relative wind. The wing's orientation relative to the ground isn't involved in the definition in any way. When the aircraft as a whole is climbing, the relative wind is coming down from above. As a result the angle of attack is reduced, compared to what it would be if the plane were not climbing.
Just to show some quick numbers, suppose you took an aircraft moving at 100 kts in still air and pulled the nose up so that you are now climbing at 3,000 FPM (most aircraft will lose speed doing this, but the math is valid until the airplane slows down). 1
manpreet![Tuteehub forum best answer]()
Best Answer
2 years ago
Everyone says that the angle of attack is what determines a stall, not the d">speed. I understand the theory and understand that it is separation of the airflow that matters for stalling.
However, I don’t understand in a practical sense. Let’s say you’re in a Citabria going at 100 knots. If you pull up extremely fast, you can get a high angle of attack, beyond what you’d need to stall at 60 knots, yet you wouldn’t stall straight away. If you stayed at that angle of attack, you’d quickly slow, then stall. But if I’m right that you wouldn’t stall straight away, then it seems like the angle of attack is not the only thing that matters.
What am I missing? What’s wrong in my argument?