the present invention is a force - based instrument that measures local flow angle . the preferred embodiment of the invention has a low aspect ratio airfoil member connected to a mounting base . using a series of strain gauges located at the connecting portion of the probe , aerodynamic forces on the airfoil member can be converted to strain , which in turn can be converted to local air flow measurements . the present invention has no moving parts and is well suited for measuring flow in a transonic and supersonic regime .