PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Navigation flying and the Triangle of Velocities
Old 15th Sep 2019, 17:39
  #25 (permalink)  
Big Pistons Forever
 
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Canada
Age: 63
Posts: 5,202
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Conor Sproat

The Bad News: You have to learn how to calculate the wind triangle in order to pass the theoretical exams. My advice is don't overthink it just practice the mechanics of solving the problem on the wizz wheel. The part you care about is having a common sense understanding of the validity of the answer the wizz wheel gives you. (e.g.So if the wind is from the right of your track your heading to fly should be more than you track. If the wind is ahead of you then your groundspeed should be less than your TAS)

The Good News: In low and slow airplanes all that figuring is not actually required to get from A to B since what you end up doing is adjusting the heading to what ever it takes to follow your track by means of what you see looking at ground features. You still need to know the general direction and speed of the wind but the absolute value you calculated probably won't actually work perfectly because low level winds can be quite variable so you are still going to be adjusting as required to stay on track.
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