What is the wind correction angle?

The wind correction angle, or crab angle, is how many degrees you point the nose into the wind so the aircraft tracks your intended course over the ground. It is found from the arcsine of the crosswind component divided by true airspeed.

How is groundspeed calculated?

Groundspeed equals true airspeed times the cosine of the wind correction angle, minus the headwind component. A headwind and a large crab both reduce groundspeed, while a tailwind increases it. The tool combines these from the full wind triangle.

Is wind direction the way it blows from or to?

Aviation wind is always reported as the direction it blows from, in degrees true for forecasts and winds aloft. Enter that from direction. A 270 wind is a westerly, blowing from the west toward the east.

Why is the result a true heading?

The wind triangle works in true degrees because winds aloft and courses are charted in true. To fly the compass, apply local magnetic variation, easterly subtracted and westerly added, and then deviation, to convert the true heading to a magnetic heading.

What if the crosswind exceeds true airspeed?

Then the wind triangle has no solution and the tool says so. Physically the aircraft cannot make good that course because the crosswind is faster than the aircraft can fly. You would need a different course or to wait for the wind to ease.

What is the Wind Correction Angle Calculator?

Solve the E6B wind triangle to find the wind correction angle, true heading, and groundspeed from your true course, true airspeed, and the wind direction and speed. A flight-planning and navigation cross-check for crosswind legs. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Wind Correction Angle Calculator

Name: Wind Correction Angle Calculator
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Every cross-country leg flown in wind needs a heading that is not the same as the course line on the chart. This calculator solves the classic E6B wind triangle to find the wind correction angle, the heading to fly, and the groundspeed you will actually achieve.

How it works

The wind triangle relates three vectors: your desired track over the ground, the aircraft’s vector through the air, and the wind vector. The tool resolves the wind relative to the course, splits it into crosswind and headwind/tailwind components, then finds the correction angle:

wind angle  = wind direction - true course
crosswind   = wind speed × sin(wind angle)
headwind    = wind speed × cos(wind angle)   (positive = headwind)
WCA         = arcsin(crosswind / TAS)
heading     = true course + WCA
groundspeed = TAS × cos(WCA) − headwind

A positive WCA means crab the nose to the right to compensate for a wind from the right. A negative result means crab left.

Worked example

Suppose you are flying a true course of 270 (due west) at 130 kt TAS and the winds aloft report a wind from 220 at 25 kt.

Wind angle: 220 − 270 = −50° (wind is from the left-front quadrant)
Crosswind component: 25 × sin(−50°) ≈ −19.2 kt (from the left)
Headwind component: 25 × cos(−50°) ≈ 16.1 kt (partial headwind)
WCA: arcsin(−19.2 / 130) ≈ −8.5° (crab left)
True heading: 270 + (−8.5) ≈ 261.5°
Groundspeed: 130 × cos(8.5°) − 16.1 ≈ 128.6 − 16.1 ≈ 112.5 kt

So you would fly a heading of about 262° to track the 270° course, and plan fuel and time on a groundspeed of about 113 kt — noticeably slower than still-air because of the headwind component.

Converting to magnetic heading

The result is a true heading. To fly it on a magnetic compass:

Find local magnetic variation (east or west) from your chart or EFB.
Apply: magnetic heading = true heading − east variation (or + west variation).
If you know your aircraft’s compass deviation for that magnetic heading, apply the deviation correction to get the compass heading.

When to use this

Pre-flight flight planning: estimate fuel burn (groundspeed determines time) and build your navigation log.
In-flight sanity check: compare your actual track from GPS against the expected track to verify the winds are what you planned.
PPL/CPL exam prep: the E6B wind triangle is a standard exam topic; this calculator lets you verify your manual computations.

Notes

This tool gives a true heading and a groundspeed. It does not account for variation, deviation, or instrument error. Use it alongside your EFB or mechanical E6B — never as your sole navigation aid. If the crosswind component exceeds TAS, the triangle has no solution and the course cannot be flown at that airspeed.