Wind Direction Conundrum...

[olivermitch99]

Hi all!
I feel a little silly for asking this however:
If the wind is 270/13, is the wind blowing towards heading 270 at 13 knots or blowing from heading 270 at 13 knots (therefore blowing to heading 090)

Silly question, I know

Cheers, Oliver

[AyrTC]

Blowing from 270

[Loki]

It's not a silly question if you don't know.

[ZOOKER]

Blowing from 270 olivermitch, as AyrTC says.
A 'westerly' wind, or airflow, comes FROM the west.
Have fun, meteorology is fascinating.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by Loki

It's not a silly question if you don't know.

Exactly. It's just a convention that's used, after all, and if it's one you're not familiar with then it's a perfectly reasonable question to ask.

A good way to remember how it works is that if you're landing on Runway 27, then a wind reported as 270 is exactly where you want it to be.

[ZOOKER]

olivermitch,
also, when an airport is on 'westerly operations', the a/c take off and land TO the west. Eg at Heathrow, they'll be using 27L and 27R, as Dave says above, operating towards the westerly wind.

[LEGAL TENDER]

so would that mean that when they are on "easterly operations" they take off and land with the pointy bit towards East?

What if the wind is neither westerly or easterly?

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Well, it might be north-south-easterlies... or west-north-southerlies.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by LEGAL TENDER

so would that mean that when they are on "easterly operations" they take off and land with the pointy bit towards East?

Yes.

What if the wind is neither westerly or easterly?

Any wind direction can be resolved into a headwind/tailwind component and a crosswind component.

It's the former that determines whether Heathrow operates on easterlies or westerlies, subject to a set of rules that define the preferential direction depending on the time of day/night:

http://www.heathrow.com/file_source/...Arrivals11.pdf

[ZOOKER]

LEGAL TENDER,
Correct.........Unless you're at Leeds or Birmingham.........Then it's all very different.

[2 sheds]

There seems to be an equivalent of Godwin's Law on Pprune - it's only a matter of time before bl**dy Heathrow gets mentioned!

2 s

[ZOOKER]

Sorry sheds, I hadn't noticed the OP's 'location indicator'.
It's the same at 'John Lennon', olivermitch, which has the same runway directions as Heathrow.......Give or take a degree or two.

[DaveReidUK]

Originally Posted by ZOOKER

It's the same at 'John Lennon', olivermitch, which has the same runway directions as Heathrow.......Give or take a degree or two.

Not to mention Bristol, Guernsey, Jersey, EMA, Norwich ...