Crosswind / Headwind Component
Runway diagram with configurable runway heading and wind: crosswind and head/tailwind components, left or right, with clear units and sign conventions.
Loading the tool…
Set the runway (heading of the end you would land on; the reciprocal end is evaluated too) and the wind. The cyan arrow is the wind: its tail sits where the wind comes from and its length is the speed — drag the tail to change both. Drag the purple end of the runway to rotate it.
The purple and green arrows at the threshold are the two components the pilot feels: headwind (green, or coral when it is a tailwind) along the runway and crosswind across it, left or right as seen from the cockpit on final. The readout names the favoured end (greater headwind) and lists the other end for comparison.
Enter a gust to see the gust components on their own line — they are computed from the gust speed with the same angle, never added to the steady values. Compare the crosswind against your aircraft's demonstrated crosswind (POH); the tool does not assume a limit.
Assumption: runway heading and wind direction use the same reference. Tower and ATIS winds are magnetic like runway numbers; METAR/TAF winds are true — convert with the local variation before comparing. Runway numbers are the heading rounded to 10° (a 7° offset is common).
Components: angle = wind direction − runway heading (wrapped to ±180°); headwind = speed × cos(angle), crosswind = speed × sin(angle) (positive = from the right of the landing aircraft). Both ends use the same wind; the favoured end is the one with the larger headwind, and equal headwinds (a 90° wind) are reported as “either”. The same component calculation is used by every tool on the platform.
Verified: the FAA crosswind-component chart reference points — 30° off the runway gives 50 % of the wind as crosswind, 60° gives 87 %, 90° gives all of it — and headwind² + crosswind² = speed² for every angle (Airplane Flying Handbook FAA-H-8083-3C ch. 9).
A gust lower than the steady wind is an invalid input: the gust control is marked and the gust lines show a dash until it is corrected. Zero gust means no gust.
- FAA Airplane Flying Handbook, FAA-H-8083-3C, ch. 9 Approaches and Landings — crosswind component chart (crosswind = wind × sin(angle), headwind = wind × cos(angle); 30° → 50 %, 60° → 87 %, 90° → 100 %)