Not a joke, just an observation where it seems to change the angle of attack, all other things being equal. There are things that should happen, and then things that actually happen based on the characteristics of the airplane, just as in tgrayson's example. That leads to a load of confusion, CFI or not.
I have a basic, elementary understanding of aerodynamics that I have learned based on FAA pubs and what I was taught, which from what I understand, are both wrong in a lot of instances. I would guess that the aerodynamic knowledge tgrayson has is probably more than 99% of other CFIs.
There seems to be debate against those who are 100x more knowledgeable than me on these subjects, so how are people like me supposed to sort through it all? The only way we are able to is by the direct observation we get everyday. It may be fundamentally flawed, or it may be a phenomenon specific to the aircraft we are limited to, but it is hard to disagree with something we see everyday.
Does this make sense? I know it was a bit of a ramble, but I am trying to give you an idea of where I am coming from and where students (I still consider myself a student) are coming from.
Hey I am sorry then I didn't mean to throw that in your face. I took it as a joke based on what I wrote and don't worry about rambling I ramble with the best of em!
As for the aerodynamics, "from FAA and what people told me" all i can say is *cringe*. Most pilots understanding of aerodynamics is extremely flawed and yes tgray has an incredible knowledge for that stuff far beyond what I think a pilot needs (but it can never hurt).
However if you are interested in this stuff read that book I mentioned in my other post "Emergency Maneuver Training" by Rich Stowell.
That book has a better explanation and gives a better practical understanding of aerodynamics than any book I have ever seen. It is all in layman's terms with I think one or two mathematical formulas (which can be ignored) in the entire book. It explains aerodynamics in the beginning, then explains how they relate to each control surface and finally how they effect the aircraft through various maneuvers and emergencies. Definitely a must for the pilot trying to learn about this aerodynamics stuff.
To further explain tgrayson and hopefully make it easier to understand, if you take up a Seminole and set the aircraft trimmed for cruise at say 120 knots. The Seminole has a T-tail and is a twin so thrust over the tail is minimal making the aircraft perform a little more like tgrayson explained as "the perfect aircraft." First before we continue here are some definitions that you will need to understand what is happening:
Trim - The trim for all practical purposes sets your aircrafts speed (irregardless of power) and for a technical purpose it sets an angle of attack. AOA always corresponds with a speed and that speed will remain the same at that given AOA (in a perfect airplane) no matter what the power setting is.
Relative Wind - Also for practical purposes we can ignore infinite RW as tgrayson was speaking of and simply look at the local relative wind or just call it relative wind, it is what you have dealt with your entire career. For a practical definition, relative wind is the wind flowing opposite your direction of flight (remember 3D environment so ignore up down left and right, they do not exist).
Angle of Attack - To repeat one last definition, AOA is the angle between RW and the chord line of the wing. The chord line is simply a straight line from the leading to the trailing edge of the wing.
Now we are back in our Seminole with a practical understanding of AOA, RW, and trim. We are set up for 120 knots at about half throttle if you reduce the throttle here is what happens. The aircraft lets say is flying at 5 degrees angle of attack because that is what you set with your trim. The aircraft will start to slow, your flight path currently still level, but now because it slows down it is starting to loose its angle of attack in level flight. Well remember trim has your AOA set for 5 degrees so to keep 5 degrees the aircraft will nose down picking keeping its speed at 120 knots nosing down as much as it has to. Remember, RW is the air flowing opposite your flight path; so thinking that you see your flight path is now a descent and the relative wind is coming up at you the same way it did in level flight. To see this look straight out with your eyes and remember at level you saw the horizon right out in front of you and now if you stare straight out you are looking at some point on the ground, so you can see your flight path has changed.
You are in a descent the aircraft has realigned itself with the new RW and has remained at its 5 degree angle of attack. You can do the exact opposite adding power and the process will repeat in reverse until the aircraft aims at whatever degree pitch up it needs to hold 120 knots.
So the Seminole will fly much like a perfect aircraft because the horizontal tail is not subject to thrust from the engine. This engine thrust is what tgrayson was talking about for your single engine centerline thrust aircraft. They blow air back over the tail, as you know, the faster you go the more effective your controls are and the slower (slow flight especially) the sloppier your controls. So for a single engine trainer if you set say 100 knots at half power cruise in a C172 then go full power you will climb at about 90 knots. The increase in angle of attack happens because the thrust from the engine blowing over the elevator makes it more sensitive causing the AOA to change slightly higher setting a slightly lower airspeed.
Tgrayson - I know some of these things are slightly off of "technical" truth and I have purposely omitted certain effects for simplicity. But if looked at for practical purpose and pilot understanding, I believe they more then suffice. So be gentle with your technical corrections please