What does it mean when people talk about a plane's Alpha, and usually fighter plane's one?

In reference to real flight; It could be referring to high "Angle of Attack" maneuvers. In planes that have a gauge to show your current AoA, it's usually marked by the "Alpha" symbol (It's a weird looking "a")

The Angle of Attack of an Aircraft, is when put simple, the difference between the direction the plane is flying in (Straight and level, for example), and the current pitch of the plane (Say... 45 degrees).

In that example, the plane is flying straight and level, with little change in altitude, but the plane itself is positioned in such a way where that it's pitched up quite a fair amount. The simple way to put it, is a 45 degree Angle of Attack.

Some of the newer planes (Su-37, Su-35, MiG-35, F-22A) can fly straight and level, with even higher AoA's, sometimes even vertical (For a short period of time).

If you've ever heard of and seen the Pugachev Cobra in action (Youtube it), a maneuver very commonly done by Russian fighter aircraft; You'll already have a perfect idea of what it looks like as far as visuals go.

expat wrote on Jul 4^th, 2009 at 2:50pm:


Also known as the angle of attack. 

expat wrote on Jul 5^th, 2009 at 2:33am:


Right, but both are very closely related, are they not? And, personally, I read the question as asking as to what someone talking about "Alpha" in regards to a Fighter Aircraft meant. That generally means the Angle of Attack 

expat wrote on Jul 5^th, 2009 at 2:33am:

My point is just that they refer to the same thing:  the angle between the chord line and the relative wind (as you clearly explained). 

"Alpha" is engineers' shorthand for AoA, that's all. Or you could say "AoA" is a ground instructor's term for "alpha".

I believe what Isak described is known as a "high-alpha" maneuver.

expat wrote on Jul 5^th, 2009 at 8:36am: