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Old 11th Mar 2008, 08:20
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Arm out the window
 
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: North Queensland, Australia
Posts: 2,980
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How about this?
With GPS groundspeed and track readout, you should be able to easily work out head/tailwind component (if you know your TAS) and drift angle.

Now crosswind component = drift x (TAS/60), so you can fairly simply work out the crosswind in knots too.

Given both those, drag out the dreaded whizzwheel and plot them and you can read off the wind.

Example: 180 KTAS, groundspeed 150, track 180, heading 187.

Headwind component 30 kt.
Crosswind - 180/60 x 7 = 21 knots from the right.

Putting those on the whizz wheel, I get a wind of about 215 at 36 kt.

Sound reasonable?
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