Definition
The angle between the aircraft's flight path during a climb and the horizontal. It expresses how steeply the aircraft is gaining altitude relative to the ground it is covering, and is determined primarily by the relationship between excess thrust and weight.
Plain English
How steep the climb is. A small angle means a shallow climb that covers a lot of ground for each foot of altitude gained. A large angle means a steep climb that gains altitude quickly without travelling far forward.
Context Anchor
Seen in climb performance discussions, especially when comparing clearing an obstacle with gaining altitude quickly over time.
Derivation
Angle comes from a Latin word meaning “corner” or “bend.” In this term, it points to the angle between the aircraft’s upward path and a level path over the ground.
Why Pilots Care
Determines whether the aircraft can clear obstacles or terrain during climb, directly affecting safety in performance-limited situations.
Analogy
A steeper ramp gains more height over the same floor distance. Angle of climb is like the steepness of the airplane’s path upward.
Intuition Check
Do not confuse angle of climb with nose-up attitude. The airplane’s nose can be high while the actual flight path is not climbing very steeply.
Example Sentence 1
With trees off the departure end of the runway, the pilot climbed at Vx to maximize angle of climb until the obstacles were cleared.
Example Sentence 2
At high density altitude the angle of climb shallowed, so the pilot chose a longer runway for safe obstacle clearance.