Hi everyone,
Im finding the whiz wheels take too long to determine wind in flight
We have HDG/TAS, and TMG/GS as our info.
Therefore can we not use the triangle of vectors.
We put the magnitude and vector TMG/GS which is our path over the ground with compass and ruler....1
Then we put our HDG/TAS as our other vector with compass and ruler....2
Then the final vector going from 2 to 1 is the wind vector and we can measure the magnitude and from where the wind comes from
I used this for the examples in the Bob Tait book and it seemed to work
Appreciate your thoughts
Kind regards
Ravi
Absolutely the case.
We can run the sums in various ways, according to our idiosyncratic preferences -
(a) use an electronic navigation calculator for which you paid a lot of money for not all that much value.
(b) set up the sums (they're pretty straightforward trig stuff) on your PC. Excel is great for that sort of stuff and avoids having to forget Fortran and learn C, etc. Then run the sums as you would for (a). At least, having set up the algorithms, the user then has a bit more knowledge as to what the box might be doing.
(c) run the vector triangle (as you have suggested) on a sheet of paper. With a modicum of care, the answer will be fine. A bit slow and, in flight, really needs a navigator's table position.
(d) use a Dalton navigation computer (E6B) which does exactly the same as (c), although it only draws the business end of the triangle. This is the easiest way and, for the user who understands the vector triangle, is quite intuitive.
(e) use a CR navigation computer to do much the same. Not quite as intuitive as the wind triangle is run as a combination of graphical and trigonometric calculations. Takes a bit longer, while confusing a lot of users but, if it be explained correctly and the user does a bit of practice, it works fine. The original computer, which led to Lahr's design, was designed in the 1930s by Seigfried Knemeyer (the DR2). It is a bit more elegant and ran the triangle trigonometrically.
If you are looking for speed and convenience in wind triangle calculations, the Dalton, correctly used, wins hands down every time.
Engineering specialist in aircraft performance and weight control.
Thats excellent thank you very much
Im actually very old school physics and am familiar with vectors and so actually drawing is equally fast for me
That is very kind of you as always and given we have paper in the exams as a back up it does help
Kind regards
Ravi Mahajani
[color=blue]and given we have paper in the exams as a back up it does help[/color]
Oh, indeed. The man who says he has never forgotten how to do something and never then had to worm his way out of trouble via pencil and paper ... is having himself on.
Engineering specialist in aircraft performance and weight control.
