What forecast winds to use for the climb in a VFR flight plan?
Asked by: rteabeault 7712 views Student Pilot
Say you are working up a VFR flight plan and you make your first checkpoint the Top of Climb. Now you want to compute your compass heading, ground speed, etc... for the climb based on the wind correction angle. What winds do you use to compute this? I see a few options:
- Don't worry about computing a wind correction angle for the climb out. Just use the time, distance and fuel from the POH.
- Use the winds at cruising and the winds on the ground and interpolate.
- Use the winds at cruising
A second question is what winds do you use for computing wind correction at cruise if your plan to cruise at 7500 feet and the first level of forecast winds on your route is at 9000? Do you just use the winds at 9000? Or perhaps use RUC forecast soundings instead of the traditional winds aloft forecast?
Thanks.
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