Quick ways to calculate crosswind component when flying?

[RyanB]

When your rudder stops working its too strong.

 

[drjcustis]

Wow!
I have an iPad app for this calculation. I use it every time.
However, I go one step further and write down the result and visualize the wind and determine if I will have a headwind or tailwind on base. I think that is a much more important piece of information.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[denverpilot]

Doesn't foreflight have the same thing? Wouldn't you need internet connection for that to work in flight?

I just tested this on my phone by going to airplane mode, still works just fine.

Forflite gives you little arrows that point in the relative direction to the runway. Red for tail and green for head with numbers for the crosswind component

Foreflight will use the last wind data it has. Often enroute, winds shift, and the little red/green thing is useless if it hasn't updated in flight. If you regularly turn on Airplane mode and kill the data in flight, it'll almost always be useless.

Isn't that what a metal landing calculator is for?

[ducks]

LOL!

I suspect the person asking the OP to calculate it asked 10+ miles out, not in the pattern. They're looking to see if you're aware enough of ...

A) How to do it enroute to your destination once you know what the winds are doing right now, if a major wind shift from what was planned/expected happened...

And B) It's an indirect way to see if you're smart enough to know/announce your aircraft's demonstrated cross-wind limitations, cough, number. Which can lead to a few more "scenario based" questions like... "So if the wind is above the demonstrated X-wind number in your POH, are you legal to land?"

The person asking probably doesn't care if you use an app, crank the e6b, use a fairly accurate rule of thumb, whatever, they're looking for a number so they can quiz you on the max demonstrated.

Remember the movie Firefox? "Must think in Russian... Think in Russian..."

Must think like examiner... Think like examiner. Haha. You figure out what they're going after pretty quick.

Obviously the final answer is always, "I just ran out of rudder..." But approaching the airport in a check ride, the above is likely what they're trying to do/set up.

That particular DPE may not have liked the clock thing because they wanted a more accurate number to poke at the max demonstrated questions with.

It's like chess. Think ahead. What's their next move? Ahhhh... Max demonstrated... We didn't talk about that during the oral... That's why he/she wants a number...

 

[Zeldman]

When I have run out of rudder and aileron, and crab angle and tilting the wings into the wind no longer keep me on centerline, there may be too much crosswind for that runway.