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Old 26th March 2006 | 00:30
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barit1
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From: flyover country USA
The key issue is that the aircraft doesn't know or care whether it's in a headwind or tailwind.

Airspeed (Mach), gross weight, temperature and altitude determine the thrust required and thus the fuel burned per hour. The wind simply means you're flying for a longer or short duration to cover the same ground track, thus requiring more or less total fuel.
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