Hi all,

Passed ppl theory and now into navs. When planning, ther seems to be contradiction in the theory vs the practice. Mag variation should this be factored in to both winds and track? Thanks,

That has always been the case. Exercises in our books usually give the track as magnetic because that is the way all tracks are expressed in practice e.g. on ERC charts. The wind is given as true on area forecasts because you will need to apply variation according to the location in which you are operating. Most people convert the wind to magnetic and apply it to the magnetic track when calculating drift so that the resulting heading will be magnetic.

Another option is to use a true wind and a true track on your computer to get a true heading. That true heading is then converted to magnetic for flight planning purposes. What matters is that wind and track are BOTH either true or magnetic when drift is calculated.

Congratulations on passing your PPL. Well done! Enjoy your flying now......

Bob