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TRICKY NAV QUESTION

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Flight Instructor, General Aviation

Navigation question   I couldn't answer this question by my instructor I hope u guys answer it,   If my aircraft maintaining heading 160 and TAS is 180 with track 190, can I get wind speed and direction without knowing ground speed and wind component?

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1 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Feb 01, 2016

    You need to know your groundspeed.You need two speeds and an angle. In this case the crosswind angle is the difference between the heading and track.

    A trivial example shows that just knowing your heading, track, and TAS is insufficient to solve for the wind speed and direction.

    Say both your track and heading are the same. You then know that there is no crosswind component and you either have a direct head or tail wind or no wind at all. Simply knowing your TAS doesn’t help in solving for the wind speed. With your groundspeed, you can then solve for your windspeed.

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