JARGON Angle of attack The Split-S begins with a half-roll to inverted, then a steady pull so that the nose falls through the horizon. The airplane accelerates rapidly during the descent so take care to enter the maneuver as slowly as practical and reduce engine power during the descent. The aircraft should finish the maneuver much lower, faster, and on the reciprocal heading as it began. Angle of attack, or AOA, is the angle between the chord line of an airfoil and the relative wind. Increasing the angle of attack increases lift-to a point. When an airfoil surpasses its critical angle of attack, it loses lift, or stalls. As training in the Extra so aptly demonstrates, AOA is unrelated to pitch attitude and the natural horizon. FLIGHT TRAINING JULY 2022 37