Crosswind calculator
See the headwind and crosswind on both ends of any runway, gusts included.
Enter a runway and a wind to see the components.
Into wind
Your airfield's runways
Find your airfield, pick a runway, and it opens here with the heading and the current wind filled in.
The clock face rule
No calculator in the cockpit. Picture the wind's angle off the runway as minutes on a clock face: 15 minutes past is a quarter of the way round, 30 is half, 45 is three quarters, 60 is the full hour.
That fraction of the wind speed is your crosswind. A 20 kt wind 30° off the runway gives about 10 kt across.
From 60° onwards, call it all crosswind.
| Angle off the runway | Crosswind | Exact |
|---|---|---|
| 15° | A quarter | 26% |
| 30° | A half | 50% |
| 45° | Three quarters | 71% |
| 60° | All of it | 87% |
Straight answers
How do you calculate the crosswind component?
Multiply the wind speed by the sine of the angle between the wind and the runway. The headwind component is the wind speed times the cosine of the same angle. A 20 kt wind 30 degrees off the runway gives 10 kt of crosswind and 17 kt of headwind.
What is a quick way to estimate crosswind in the air?
Use the clock face: 15 degrees off the runway is a quarter of the wind speed, 30 degrees is half, 45 degrees is three quarters, and 60 degrees or more is all of it.
What is the maximum demonstrated crosswind?
The strongest crosswind the manufacturer showed the aircraft could be landed in during certification, given in the flight manual. It is not a structural limit, but it is a sensible personal ceiling, and many clubs set a lower one for students and new members.
Should I use the gust or the mean wind?
Work out both. The calculator shows the components for the mean wind and for the gust, and the gust figure is the one to compare with your limits.
Magnetic or true wind direction?
Use the same reference for the wind and the runway. METARs and TAFs give the wind in degrees true; ATIS and the tower give it in degrees magnetic, which matches the runway number.
Is the crosswind calculator free?
Yes. It is free for any pilot, with nothing to sign up for, and nothing you enter leaves your browser unless you save it to a flight plan.
More free tools
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