Private Pilot
Crosswind Calculation Methods
Thursday, 30 July 2009 17:26 | 
Author: Assad | 
How to calculate crosswind component on the fly, here are few different ways to remember :
Method 1:
angle = 10° then crosswind component = 1/6 wind strength
angle = 20° then crosswind component = 1/3 wind strength
angle = 30° then crosswind component = 1/2 wind strength
angle = 40° then crosswind component = 2/3 wind strength
angle = 50° then crosswind component = 5/6 wind strength
angle = 60° plus then crosswind componnet = wind strength
Method 2 [Clock]:
15 minutes on the clock = Quater = Quarter of the wind strength
30 minutes = Half = Half of the wind strength
45 minutes = 3 Quarters or more = Full wind strength.
This will provide you the approximate value
Method 2 [Six rule of thumb]:
10° = 1 = 1/6
20° = 2 = 2/6
30° = 3 = 3/6
40° = 4 = 4/6
50° = 5 = 5/6
60° = 6 = 6/6
Method 3 [Another I found on the Net]:
The formula is: WA + 20 = %WV
Take the angle between the wind and the runway (WA), add 20 to determin crosswind in percentage of the wind vector (WV).
Example:
runway 31 wind 270/10 WA + 20 = %WV 40 + 20 = 60% of 10kts = 6kts
runway 24 wind 270/12 WA + 20 = %WV 30 + 20 = 50% of 12kts = 6kts
runway 18 wind 260/08 WA + 20 = %WV 80 + 20 = 100% of 8kts = 8kts
Calculating the crosswind is the sinus function of the wind angle, therefore another way to simply figure out crosswind is to know 4 sinus numbers. The 4 sinus numbers of 30, 50, 60, and 80 degrees.
sin30 = .5 (with a wind from 30 degrees the cwc is half the total wind)
sin50 = .75 (with a wind from 50 degrees the cwc is 3/4 the total wind)
sin60 = .9 (with a wind from 60 degrees the cwc is the total wind minus 10%)
sin80 = 1.0 (any wind of more than 80 degrees and your cwc is the total wind)
Last Updated (Monday, 19 April 2010 08:57)
| Flight Training | |
| Dual | Solo |
| 26.5 Hrs | 6.6 Hrs |
| X-Country Solo = 6.9 | |
| X-Country Dual = 4.8 | |
| IFR = 3 Hrs | |
| PPL Minimum Req. | |
| Dual | Solo |
| Min Reached | -0.4 |
| X-Country Solo = Min Reached | |
| X-Country Dual = Min Reached | |
| IFR = -2 | |
| Remaining (Minimum) = 4.1 Hours out of Total Minimum 45 Hours | |
| Exams & Tests | |
| Cat 3 Medical | Passed |
| PSTAR | Passed - Jun, 2009 |
| Radio Lic | Passed - Aug, 2009 |
| Flight Test | Pending |
| PPL Exam(PPAER) | Pending |
METAR = CYED 201300Z AUTO 13003KT 9SM FEW088 SCT099 03/M04 A3006 RMK SLP196
STATION........ CYED
OBSERVED....... Sun May 20, 06:00 PDT
NOW............ Sun May 20, 06:43 PDT
AGE............ 43 min ago
WIND........... SE at 3 mph
VISIBILITY..... 9 miles
CLOUDS......... scattered clouds
TEMP........... ()
DEWPT.......... ()
HUMIDITY....... 60%
BAROMETER...... 1018 hPa (30.06 in Hg)
sin 30 = .5 cos 30 = .9
sin 45 = .7 cos 45 = .7
sin 60 = .9 cos 60 = .5
sin 90 = 1 cos 90 = 0
IF YOU FLY A J3 HEADWIND MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO YOU