While preparing for departure on runway 08, the wind is reported as 140° at 15 kt. Which headwind/tailwind and crosswind components will the aircraft experience during both take-off and landing on this runway?
1. Identify the runway heading
- Runway 08 corresponds to a magnetic heading of 080°. So, the aircraft is aligned roughly east.
2. Compare wind direction to runway heading
- Reported wind: 140°/15 kt
- Difference between wind direction and runway heading = 140° – 080° = 60°.
- So, the wind is coming from 60° to the right of the aircraft’s nose.
3. Resolve wind into components
We split the wind vector into:
- Headwind/Tailwind component (along the runway axis)
- Crosswind component (perpendicular to the runway)
The formulas are:
Headwind Component (HWC) = V x cos θ
Crosswind Component (XWC) = V x sin θ
Where:
- V = 15 kt (windspeed)
- θ = 60° (angle between wind and runway heading)
4. Calculate
- Headwind = 15 × cos (60°)= 15 × 0.5 = 7.5 kt ≈ 7 kt
- Crosswind = 15 × sin (60°) = 15 × 0.866 = 12.99 kt ≈ 12.5 kt
5. Determine crosswind direction
Since the wind is coming from 140°, and the runway heading is 080°, the wind is from the right-hand side of the aircraft.
So:
- Crosswind: 12.5 kt from the right
- Headwind: 7 kt
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