Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

2 Answers

WCA

Asked by: 10221 views ,
General Aviation

When calculating WCA, how is it that if the wind is blowing from the right of your true course (right crosswind), you DEFINATIVELY add a correction angle?

Is it because if the wind is blowing from the right...you'd have to crab right...therefore, your compass heading (numbers) would increase?  For instance, if I turn from 010 to 020...that's an increase of 10 degrees to the right.

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

2 Answers



  1. Kent Shook on Nov 04, 2010

    Yes, if you have a wind blowing from the right of your course, you will have to correct to the right by “crabbing” into the wind.

    Another way to think of it is this: If you point the airplane directly along your course, such that your heading is the same as your desired course, that wind from the right is going to blow you off course to the left. So, your heading needs to be somewhat to the right to compensate.

    Any time the winds aloft are not either a direct headwind or direct tailwind, you’ll have some sort of correction angle.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Brian on Nov 06, 2010

    For another way to look at this, consider a body of flowing water. The ground beneath the water represents the ground, just like in the air. The water, however, can be used to represent the flowing air mass.

    Let the boat go across the river by pointing it straight at an object on the other side. Without seeing the experiment you probably already know the boat will not make it, it will drift down stream. To successfully reach the object directly across the river the boat must angle it’s path into the oncoming water just as an aircraft must crab into the wind to keep a straight path over the ground.

    PS You add that correction angle anytime the wind isn’t directly off your nose or tail. In other words, the left of course crosswind would definitely need a WCA as well.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.