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Determining winds aloft

Asked by: 3132 views Student Pilot

Hello I’m a newer cfi, and I was wondering how do you determine winds aloft for cross country planning if the winds at 6000 are 270 at 15 but winds are calm at 3000, cruising altitude is 4500 ft.

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1 Answers



  1. Russ Roslewski on Apr 12, 2023

    You interpolate the wind direction and wind speed independently. In this case, since your planned cruising altitude is halfway between the two altitudes, you can simply average the values.

    For the speed, at 3000 it’s 0, and at 6000 it’s 15. So at 4500 a reasonable estimate is 7 or 8 – take your pick, either one is a guess anyway.

    For direction, since there is no direction at 3000 and it’s 270 at 6000, I’d consider it to just be 270 at 4500 as well.

    So, I’d go with 270 at 7 or 8 at 4500.

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