Exactly, I wasn't trying to tell my students that the LIFT created is the same. I was just trying to demonstrate that angle of attack is the relation to chord/relative wind. In a vertical climb, the relative wind is still straight at the aircraft so the angle of attack is still very low - like in a cruise flight.

What I try to weed out with that question is the students who are not connecting flight path relation to the ground. So in the F16 example, if they say the AoA of a straight climb is "90 degrees" then I have to work with them more.