Computing Winds Aloft

Do you carry and USE an E6B in the cockpit?

  • Total voters
    126
I don't determine winds aloft because I don't care. Why is it necessary? I have a ground speed and ground track readout, and that's all that matters.
 
I answered "No" because I could not answer "Yes" to both questions. I do carry an E6B in the cockpit, both paper and electronic.

I've never had to use them because I have MANY instruments that will help me determine wind/fuel burn/ground speed/heading, etc. Now, if I lost all of those then yeah perhaps an E6B would be helpful at that point, but I'd still have my backup iPad, iPhone and paper maps, etc.

I used it for my PPL and honestly haven't used it much since.
 
I have some in various old flight bags between home and the hangar.
Don't carry one any more
(might be a plastic one in in a seat pocket somewhere - haven't cleaned out the plane in a decade or two)
I can estimate initial heading and ETA in my head
(the plane always leaves with 6 hours of fuel in the tanks - my bladder is 4 hours MAX - no calculations needed)
If I am VFR I can tell by looking at the ground if I need a bit more correction for the wind
If I am really pressed to be "professional" I can find the true heading between xxx and yyy by using my smart phone, plus/minus the number on the compass correction card, and guess at wind correction,
(betcha 90% of you glass cockpit guys cannot close your eyes and point to where the correction card is - boy would I love to give you your biennial)
It is routine to fly cross country with some VOR frequencies scribbled on a 3x5 recipe card filched from the kitchen, said card being wedged into the corner of the glare shield where I can conveniently see it without having to reach - and the magic GPS moving map, of course .
If the magic smoke leaves the GPS (has happened twice now, with no warning) I will 'sigh' , smile wryly as I twiddle the OBS to center up the VOR I have casually kept loaded by reference to the recipe card, pull out a dog eared, long expired Howie Keefe chart from under the seat (blowing the dust off) and revert to days of yore.
Now, if there were only some AN ranges left, life would be perfect :D
 
I spotted one in the wild this afternoon!

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Jaybird180 said:
On my student XCs I tracked timing just enough to convince myself that DR worked sufficiently for navigation purposes.
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Timing is about noticing changes in expected fuel use. Not a big deal in a 1-hr xc in a 172 that has 5-7 hours fuel on board, but someday...

A lot of the xc tasks as a student pilot are like the timing waypoints every 10NM. Learning how for when you need it.
 
...and don't forget. If it's good enough for Spock
36BSpock.jpg
 
If you fly a lot of longer cross countries as I do in my Mooney, winds aloft are very important and do make a difference in time and cost of a flight.

I use Foreflight to pick what looks to be the altitude for best predicted WA. Once in the air I look at the forecast WA that I get from my XM aviation weather subscription, and I use the 430 E6B to calculate the actual WA I encountering. Then adjust up/down as necessary.

I brushed up on use of a manual E6B when I got my CFIA. But I can't imagine using it for real.
 
Stuff in the panel gives me all that now. Still carry a plotter and old charts.
 
I stopped carrying a full E6B in my flight bag a while back, but I do have the basic E6B on my Torgoen watch. I'll use that periodically in flight to things like cross check ETE or plan my descent.
 
Never pushed it enough to the point where winds aloft were important to know to get to where I was going. Basically, if I'm going fast I have a tailwind. if I'm going slow I'm likely descending, unless its too hot or bumpy.

I'm pretty certain I have stuff in the cockpit that'll figure this stuff out. Just not certain why I should do it other than to report it to Flightwatch, which I don't often do anyway.
 
In my GA flying, I don't think I ever bothered to do so. I look at the G-530 groundspeed, and the fuel computer that talks to it. If fuel required exceeds fuel remaining by a comfy factor, I'm content.
 
TangoWhiskey said:
I see lots of PLANNING FOR WINDS answers using ForeFlight or other tools. I'm asking, how do you determine ACTUAL winds aloft enroute? If you're making a PIREP, that's one of the items you can tell them: Winds at 9000 are 295 @ 24 knots.

Which electronic E6B apps have it? Jesse's E6B Pro doesn't, as best I can tell. The only "Wind" calculation is crosswind component.
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Sporty's E6B app for iPhone has a "Wind Speed and Direction" function in the enroute menu. You compute TAS first, then go to Wind Speed and Direction, plug in the variables and viola'.
 
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For those who are curious...

Garmin 496:

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WingXPro7:

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Probably worth it to go through the motions once in a while, but for my relatively slow and short cross-country legs I rarely do so.
 
The winds are always at my 6' Oclock position.
Because I'm the Greatest Pilot in the World
 
EdFred said:
My 430 has a TAS/Winds calculator built in if I want to know the actual winds. Dial in heading, TAS, OAT, Baro, and voila - head/tail/crosswind component is displayed.
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+1.

That said, I rarely care about the total winds. I care about the headwind component, which I can calculate by looking at my ground speed, given my current TAS.

My flight planning ahead of time tells me the expected winds aloft for the flight, so I'll compare those to what I'm actually experiencing to determine whether I want to stick to the cruise altitude that was planned.

Case in point, if the winds aloft call for a strong headwind, I might fly relatively low (2500-3000ft on my last flight, for example) rather than going up to the usual 8-10k. If, reaching 3k, the GS is higher than expected, I might venture a little higher to see if I can run with a higher power setting.
 
coma24 said:
+1.

That said, I rarely care about the total winds. I care about the headwind component, which I can calculate by looking at my ground speed, given my current TAS.

My flight planning ahead of time tells me the expected winds aloft for the flight, so I'll compare those to what I'm actually experiencing to determine whether I want to stick to the cruise altitude that was planned.

Case in point, if the winds aloft call for a strong headwind, I might fly relatively low (2500-3000ft on my last flight, for example) rather than going up to the usual 8-10k. If, reaching 3k, the GS is higher than expected, I might venture a little higher to see if I can run with a higher power setting.
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That high? :D If I have a headwind and I'm not feeling like I'm on a white water rafting trip, I will play dodgem with towers.
 
I voted no, saying that I don't carry or use an E6B, but that is a half truth. I carry one, but I haven't used it in ages. If Foreflight ever goes belly up, that will change.

I can easily get weather on foreflight and can monitor ground speed with Foreflight.
 
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