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3 Answers

ATC assigned heading vs course

Asked by: 2451 views FAA Regulations, General Aviation, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

Hello! When ATC assigns a heading, should we be correcting for wind to make this our course? Or do we just point the airplane in that direction and not worry about the course? Thank you for any answers!

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3 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    John D Collins on Jul 06, 2019

    When assigned a heading by ATC, you are expected to fly the heading and not correct for wind.

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  2. KDS on Jul 06, 2019

    A related phrase is “Fly runway heading”, with the same answer John wrote.

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  3. Mark Kolber on Jul 08, 2019

    I think some people forget that we haven’t always had GPS and the easy ability to fly a track. So when you ask “should we be correcting for wind?” here is what you are really asking:

    When ATC tells you to “fly heading…” Do you

    (a) read the dial in front of you and make your turn

    or

    (b) read the OAT, tune the Kollsman to 29.92 to get pressure altitude, whip out your E6B, convert IAS to TAS, ask to go off frequency, call Flight Service for the winds aloft, turn the E6B over, do the wind triangle, figure out the wind correction angle, apply it to the number ATC gave you 5-10 minutes earlier and then make your turn

    ?

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