And in the most practical and simplest of methods in my opinion to use for a JAA ppl or cpl flight test is the: 'Knightson'... A circular transparent piece of plastic with 'wood rings' depicted with the major cardinals dividing the circle into four quarters (A big cross depicted over diminishing equally spaced circles). You plot the actual/forecast wind vector before flight with a "x"; so 090/10kts is 090 from the centre of the Knightson and two rings out from the centre on that radial (each ring representing 5 kts); place the "x" as the new centre of the circle (now skewed) where you are on the map, read off your heading already corrected for wind, add/sub MAG Variation and then you can count the equal distanced wood rings out from where you are to where you want to go to give an accurate ETA measured in minutes. Just make sure you align the depicted cardinals on the Knightson correctly with the map's True North when placing the 'x' over your current position on the map before reading headings etc. No fan lines needed - just wind corrected headings and ETAs measured and a lot less head down time! The size of the Knightson (and subsequently the scale of the circles) is dependent on the average cruise TAS of your aircraft. The Knighston is fixed for its respective TAS. Have used ones respectively for PA28 ppl and PA34 (Seneca) cpl skills tests.
Putting things on plastic doesn't always have to lead to debt
Good luck.
MG
