Airplane in Wind: Desired Heading and Resultant Speed
Velocity unit
Your aircraft can maintain an airspeed of: =.
For wind velocity= at °,
if you wish to maintain a bearing in the compass direction°
then you should take a heading in the compass direction °
This will give you a ground speed of =
in the chosen direction.

Note: The wind direction in this calculation is the direction of air motion, not the direction from which the wind is coming. So if you call a wind from the north a "north wind", then the air motion direction is south and you would enter 180° for the wind angle.

Details about calculation

Alternate calculations: Ground Velocity Wind Velocity
Index

Relative velocity
 
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Calculating Aircraft Heading


 Calculating the necessary heading to counter a wind velocity and proceed along a desired bearing with respect to the earth is a classic problem in aircraft navigation.
This calculation makes good use of both the law of sines and the law of cosines. Known are wind velocity , airspeed, and the desired bearing angle. This gives a value for the angle θ as the difference in wind direction and bearing. Use of the law of sines with wind velocity and airspeed gives the angle of offset for the aircraft, β. Then using the law of cosines with the third angle gives the magnitude of the resultant ground speed of the aircraft along the chosen bearing direction.

More detail on calculation

 Index

Relative velocity
 
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