Originally Posted by
Obidiah
Not sure about the Proline's on the King Air's but the PC12's have a wind vector arrow on either the PFD and or MFD.
It does tend to be accurate enough even with the changing dynamics around the circuit to give the pilot a pretty good idea of what the wind is doing.
On top of that there is the seat of your pants and old common dog. The drift during downwind to base turn then base turn to final.
Plus a sense of time...time only for one sip of your cup of tea on base = strong xwind from the left and 3 sips of your cup of tea on base = strong xwind from your right. The urge to say "are we there yet" somewhere along final = strong H/wind down the runway and conversely a loud cuss of "buggar" on finals means it's a strong downwind and time to change ends.
Simple really
B200 is the same, wind vector on MFD and PFD and also a "track made good bug" on the PFD. Still verify with ground as wind can be different on ground compared to 1000', but certainly not as important as it used to be.
Love your post and will definitely try the tea method and you are right, ass cheeks are the best "if you keep doing what you are doing you are going to die" indicators in the aeroplane.
I am guessing you are living the same dream
