Advanced Measurement of Angle of Attack and Sideslip

Nearly every military and commercial aircraft in the United States today uses pitot-static probes for accurate, repeatable airdata measurements. Recently, local angle-of-attack- and sideslip-sensing capabilities have been added to these probes to satisfy requirements for advanced aircraft with extended maneuvering envelopes. Probes made in advanced shapes to satisfy these requirements have been evaluated in wind-tunnel tests at angles of attack up to 90°, with favorable results. Flight tests of the Advanced L-probe Air Data Integration (ALADIN) program, directed toward evaluating the performances of these probes, were recently concluded at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.