How do you account for wind/heading to PPL exam standard using mental arithmetic?
If the PPL syllabus requires you to wear pink underpants then you have to do that. You can't do those calcs in your head because the CAA exam multiple choices are designed to pick out common errors in slide rule usage and some of the answers are very close together for that reason. It has no practical purpose because not even a robot (or a £20,000 autopilot) can fly a plane to that heading accuracy.
But practically, your drift is about half the wind, at c. 100kt. So, flying along in the average spamcan, if the crosswind
component is about 20kt from the right, then you need to point about 10 degrees right.
How do you get the wind aloft? Form 214, or take the surface wind and add about 20/20.
At 150kt, the drift is about 1/3 of the wind.
These simple rules are about as accurate as the slide rule, given the typical errors on F214
