Originally Posted by
jungle
All modern airliners have an AOA system(usually two), but the output is usually integrated into the FCC, the pilot gets no direct AOA readout.
AF 447 was a case of three pilots flying a perfectly(or at least fully functional) good aircraft into the water.
High altitude stalls in a heavy are an entirely different animal than the low level stalls used in type ratings, much lower available thrust and if the A/P disconnects at a relatively high speed you might be left with limited control authority that requires trimming. It seems that this is finally being addressed in training.
And that is what I liked......a direct readout. A gauge or a number on the HUD/EFIS/etc. Just doing the winds ear/CFIT recoveries in the might radar equipped and pressurized King Air would have been better if I had had a reference to pull too!
Not knowing if the PF was still pulling back on the stick would have been easy to tell with some direct feedback of Alpha as FastDEW points out.
USMCFLYR