Tall Paul,

As LSO's get more experienced, they tend to look much more at the "big picture" to determine aircraft AOA rather than the indicator lights (green=slow, amber="on-speed", red=fast). By looking at certain features on the airplane (for a Hornet: top of the canopy lined up with the top of the right vertical fin, for a Tomcat: nosewheel centered on the lower edge of the right intake), they can get a good idea if the airplane is fast or slow. A good "eyeball calibration" is much more reliable than the AOA system on the aircraft (especially for an airplane that had been "jousting" with a refueling basket). I had never seen the stripe technique before. Very interesting, but it probably wouldn't work so well with today's approach speeds. At night, every airplane has a unique lighting pattern that changes with attitude. The one time that the lighting system has an advantage is "in close" at night, where the LSO's perspective changes pretty rapidly.

The LSO's eyeball is obviously giving him pitch attitude and not AOA. The reason why it works is that airplanes fly a fixed geometric glideslope to the carrier (usually 3.5, 3.75, or 4.0 degrees). The higher glideslopes are normally used with higher wind over the deck, with the result that a given airframe usually has about the same rate of descent for every landing. As long as the rate of descent stays the same, a given pitch attitude always corresponds to the same AOA.

What does this have to do with flying RC airplanes?

1) For final approach, I think your eyeball makes a very reliable AOA indicator.

2) If you fly your approach with the same geometric glide slope on a windy day that you would use with no wind, your airplane would need to be at a higher pitch attitude in order to be at the same AOA. In practice, higher winds tend to be gusty, so it's probably a good idea to fly the approach a touch faster (lower AOA). In other words, you probably can't go to wrong by flying your final approach at the same pitch attitude regardless of wind.

3) If you don't need an AOA indicator for final approach could it be useful "up and away"? I don't think so, mostly because the control system on just about every RC airplane is irreversible. Meaning that if you release the controls, the position of the control surfaces is determined only by the trim settings (unlike most general aviation planes where the yolk and control surfaces are free to move around if you let go of the controls). Linear Aerodynamics suggests that an airplane with an irreversible control system always trims to a single AOA corresponding to the trim setting. So if you're trying to set a particular AOA, it's probably easier to adjust trim rather than try to follow a telemetered AOA indicator.

4) One case where I can see downlinked AOA being useful would be during dynamic maneuvering where you are trying to optimize turn performance (such as air combat).

I fly unpowered RC planes, so I may be completely off-base. I'm often wrong, so you won't hurt my feelings if you correct me again .