Originally Posted by
deltajuliet
It's true your AOA increases with altitude, but in the context of this question... May be underthinking this, but would your angle of attack decrease in speed mode so as to maintain the same speed in the climbout? That's why you occasionally need to reduce the speed or go to VS as you near your level-off - to get the nose back up.
I think I may have been underthinking it. I just generalized the terms. Most the time, at least in cruise, higher alt= higher TAS, lower IAS and higher AOA than at lower altitudes (IAS is higher, TAS is lower, AOA may not change noticeably).
But yes, I correct myself. (late night half asleep thinking got me on my response last night)
IAS and CAS decrease, TAS decreases (if temp decreases). FAA Pilots Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge. See this link, top right paragraph of page 4-41 if it doesnt show it right away.
The question remains in my mind about the AOA. Assuming constant weight (obviously not possible) As TAS and IAS/CAS decrease, AOA would need to decrease to keep speed up as airspeed falls off. However, I dont know how significant fuel burn adds complexity to this. Maybe its near constant
https://books.google.com/books?id=1H...%20aoa&f=false