Hi ya'll,
As Phil suggests you all have me thoroughly confused when
you say "angle of attack is constantly changing", how come?
I have a Gyro with the rotor set at 5 deg. pos to the line of
flight. With aerodynamics everything relates to line of flight?
My Gyro is perking along in level flight. doing that certainly the
angle of attack of EVERYTHING concerned is fixed?
Line of flight should be understood. Except in a maneuver such
as a loop. the line of flight is the path the aircraft is following.
The path does not have to be paralell to the horizon, it is there
in a climb or dive even if vertical!

Spindizzy's diagrams are misleading to me. Relative wind is indicated. Wind has nothing to do with angle of attack?? An
aircraft MOVES THROUGH air, air does not blow past it so to speak
Considering flight is in calm air.
The angle of an aircraft component (wing, rotor, tail, etc) can be
any degree to the LINE OF FLIGHT, what ever that angle may be
is the components angle of attack.
How any portion's angle of attack can change or be different is
a mystery to me that I would like to see explained.
The only instance I am aware of is a rotor using "Delta" blade
hinges. Raising a delta hinge does change the angle but this is
not a normal arrangement.
All input appreciated!

Hal [email protected]