ME & IR questions (inc. renewal)

[yippipie]

Personally I use the following method:

Teardrop outbound track (30 degrees) = 2x drift, and 1min corrected for wind(1sec/knot)
Inbound (hold) track = 1x drift

Eg:
W/S say 270/10kts
Teardrop O/B track say 120 degrees
Inbound track say 270 degrees
TAS say 120

So,
Work out max drift (on the beam);
MD=WS(kts) / TAS(nm/min) =5

Then the actual drift (using angle between the wind and the air track)
D=5x sin30
D=2.5

Thus,
Teardrop outbound heading (2xD) is 125 degrees
Teardrop outbound timing is (sin60=0.86) 51secs

Worst part is the need to memorise the ballpark sine numbers.
Don't forget to factor in the actual wind experienced prior to holding, and voila--you won't be far out.

Hope this helps.

Pip.