Wind and drift correction
The wind triangle: heading vs course, and the correction angle.
13 min read · Navigation
After this lesson you can
- Build a wind triangle from a true course, a forecast wind, and a true airspeed.
- Apply the wind correction angle in the right direction, and explain why.
- Estimate a crosswind component without a calculator, using the standard angle fractions.
- Recompute groundspeed and ETA from what actually happens in flight, not just from the forecast.
An aircraft flies inside a mass of air that is itself moving over the ground. Point the nose straight at the destination in a crosswind, and the destination is exactly what you will not reach: the wind carries the aircraft sideways the whole way there.
The wind triangle is the tool that resolves this. It is nothing more than a diagram of three vectors - where the aircraft is pointed, how the air is moving, and where the aircraft actually goes - and once it has been built by hand a few times, most pilots can estimate its answer without drawing it at all.
The rest of this lesson
- 1.Heading, track, and the angle between them
- 2.Building the triangle by hand
- 3.Estimating a crosswind component without a calculator
- 4.Groundspeed: the number that runs the rest of the flight
- 5.When the forecast wind is wrong
- 6.Crosswind and the landing decision
These 6 sections, their figures, the checks along the way and the end-of-lesson quiz come with the PPL track. Paid once, yours for good.
Key terms
Try to recall each definition before turning the card.