Determination of an angle of attack sensor correction for a general aviation airplane at large angles of attack as determined from wind tunnel and flight tests

A comprehensive investigation into the flow correction for an angle of attack sensor mounted ahead of the wing tip of a general aviation research airplane has been conducted at the Langley Research Center. This correction has been determined in wind tunnels using a full-scale model up to angles of attack of 45 deg and a 1/5-scale model up to 80 deg angle of attack. The flow correction has also been obtained in flight by using a standard technique at low angles of attack and in spinning flight at larger angles of attack, by using both a simple approximate technique and a parameter estimation technique. The results show the correction is significant, reaching 10 deg at a measured angle of attack of about 90 deg. The flow correction was sensitive to the angle of sideslip at measured angles of attack greater than 60 deg and was not influenced by wing leading-edge modifications or aileron deflections.