Correcting for wind
Choose a heading that makes the ground track follow your intended direction. See why pointing into wind works and why groundspeed changes.
What you’ll learn
- Predict which way to correct a heading for a crosswind.
- Find a wind correction angle by balancing sideways velocity components.
- Distinguish holding a track direction from being on the intended route.
Choose the ground direction first
The desired track is the direction you want to travel over the ground. The heading is the direction you choose for the nose. To follow a desired track in a crosswind, these usually need to be different.
For this lesson, the desired track is 090° true, TAS is 100 kt, and wind is from 360° true at 20 kt. A wind from the north moves south. If you point the nose east, the ground track bends south of east, to about 101° true.
To remove that southward motion, give the aircraft some northward through-air motion. Point the nose left of east, towards the wind source. Pointing right of east would add more southward motion and increase the error. All directions here use true north.
Correct towards the wind source, not towards the side it pushes you.
Make the sideways movements cancel
Think of the wind correction angle as the angle between the desired track and the chosen heading. In this pure crosswind example, the aircraft needs a 20 kt northward component to cancel the 20 kt southward wind component.
At TAS 100 kt, a left correction angle α produces a northward component of 100 × sin(α). Set that equal to 20. The required correction is arcsin(20 ÷ 100), approximately 11.5° left. The exact heading is about 078.5° true.
You do not need the formula to predict the correct side. Use it to check the size after explaining the picture. The 20 kt wind is not a 20° correction; speeds and angles describe different things.
The correction works because opposing sideways velocity components cancel.
Not all your airspeed points along the route
With the correction applied, part of the 100 kt through-air velocity points north. Its eastward component is slightly smaller than 100 kt. The wind cancels the northward part but adds no eastward component, so groundspeed is about 98 kt.
For this particular right-angle wind triangle, the eastward component is √(100² − 20²), or 98 kt approximately. Subtracting the full wind speed to get 80 kt would be the wrong model: the wind is across the desired track, not directly against it.
The same wind gave approximately 102 kt groundspeed when the nose pointed east without correction. That diagonal movement was faster over the ground but went in the wrong direction. Keeping the correct track matters more than making that number look larger.
TAS can stay 100 kt while the corrected groundspeed is about 98 kt.
Check the track, then check the route
A heading calculation is a prediction based on a wind estimate. In the lab, change heading and compare the resulting track with the 090° target. Try a small change either side of the best setting and watch the drift reverse.
The challenge accepts a track within 1° of 090°. With whole-degree controls, about 078° or 079° will meet it; the exact mathematical solution lies between them. The model uses constant wind, constant TAS and coordinated horizontal flight.
Holding a track direction does not prove the aircraft is on the planned route line. It could be travelling parallel to that line while already displaced from it. This exercise teaches the velocity triangle, not interception of a displaced route or a complete flight plan.
A correct track direction and a correct position are separate checks.
Find the heading that holds the track
The desired track is fixed at 090° true. Wind is fixed from 360° true at 20 kt and TAS at 100 kt. Begin at heading 090°. Only the heading is editable in this challenge.
Desired track 090° · TAS 100 kt · Wind 360° / 20 kt
Type a value or use the slider. Arrow keys make small changes.
Adjust heading until the resulting track is within 1° of 090°, then check the target. Explain which sideways movements are cancelling before you check.
Show a hint
The wind pushes south. Turn the nose north of east to create an opposing northward component. Try a heading near 078°.
Explore the controls, then check your setup against the task.
Hold east with a northerly wind
- Set the desired track to 090° true, TAS to 100 kt and wind from 360° true at 20 kt. At heading 090°, predict drift towards the south.
- Cancel that drift with 20 kt of northward through-air motion: sin(α) = 20 ÷ 100, so α ≈ 11.5° left.
- Subtract the left correction from 090°: heading ≈ 078.5° true. The air velocity is then about 98 kt east plus 20 kt north; wind adds 20 kt south.
- The north/south components cancel. The result is track 090° true and groundspeed about 98 kt. Selecting 078° on a whole-degree control produces a track just under 090°, within the lab's 1° tolerance.
Head about 078° true to hold approximately 090° true over the ground; groundspeed is about 98 kt.
Check your understanding
- Choose a heading towards the wind source to oppose crosswind drift.
- A wind correction angle balances sideways velocity components; it is not the wind speed expressed in degrees.
- For the corrected 100 kt / 20 kt pure-crosswind example, groundspeed is about 98 kt.
- Holding the intended track direction does not establish that you are on the intended route line.
Complete lesson
Solve the interactive exercise and all four checks to complete this lesson.
0 / 4 checks solved · Not yet solved
Progress saved on this browserSources & syllabus
AMC1 FCL.210; FCL.215 — PPL(A), 9. NAVIGATION / 9.1. GENERAL NAVIGATION / DR navigation: Basis of DR — drift and wind correction angle; The triangle of velocities — heading, groundspeed, wind velocity, track and drift angle. October 2026 edition.
- EASA — Easy Access Rules for Aircrew, October 2026 ↗AMC1 FCL.210; FCL.215, PPL(A) theoretical syllabus, 9.1 General Navigation: DR navigation / Basis of DR — drift and wind correction angle; The triangle of velocities.
- FAA — Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, Chapter 16: Navigation ↗Effect of Wind; wind correction angle; wind-triangle construction. Used for shared navigation physics, not European procedural requirements.
These references support the syllabus scope and the navigation principles taught here. The exercises and explanations are original Trimbrief material.
Simplified, steady-wind learning model; no live weather or operational navigation data.
Content edition: 2 November 2026