How can an airplane keep going forward if it has no thrust?

Every pilot is familiar with the basic model of aircraft forces:

If lift is greater than weight, the plane climbs, if less, descends. If thrust is greater than drag, the plane accelerates, if less, decelerates. In unaccelerated flight, all must be equal.

In an engine-out situation, there is no thrust, so if a constant glide ratio is to be maintained, I thought the plane must be pitched forward so the forward component of lift does the job thrust would normally do in cancelling drag.

However, in the Airplane Flying Handbook, 4-3, figure 4-2, it shows an example lift-drag diagram that shows $L/D_{max}$ ($= V_{BG}$) to be about $6°$ AoA. Wouldn't that result in lift having a backwards component and slowing down the aircraft to the point of stall?

What am I missing here?

• While I was posting this question, I worked out the answer: The aircraft is pitched nose-down, but AoA is still positive due to the relative wind. Weight is what counteracts drag. I'll leave this question here though incase anyone has a good explanation or diagram to share. – Zaz Aug 9 '17 at 0:19
• AoA and pitch angle are not the same thing. You can have +6 degrees AoA and still be descending. – Riccati Aug 9 '17 at 0:20
• It is the same as this question -- see this answer-- aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/56352/… – quiet flyer Nov 13 '18 at 10:56