Wind is 090° at 15 knots. Runway is 180°. What is the crosswind component?

Wind is 090° at 15 knots. Runway is 180°. What is the crosswind component?

• A. About 10 knots
• B. About 15 knots
• C. About 5 knots
• D. About 20 knots

Answer: (B)

The key idea is the crosswind component: the part of the wind that pushes you sideways across the runway. To get it, compare the wind direction to the runway heading. The wind is from 090°, and the runway is oriented 180°. The difference is 90°, so the wind blows perpendicular to the runway. The crosswind component is wind speed times the sine of that angle: 15 knots × sin(90°) = 15 knots. That’s why the crosswind is about 15 knots. The headwind/tailwind component would be 15 × cos(90°) = 0, so there’s no headwind or tailwind.

The key idea is the crosswind component: the part of the wind that pushes you sideways across the runway. To get it, compare the wind direction to the runway heading. The wind is from 090°, and the runway is oriented 180°. The difference is 90°, so the wind blows perpendicular to the runway. The crosswind component is wind speed times the sine of that angle: 15 knots × sin(90°) = 15 knots. That’s why the crosswind is about 15 knots. The headwind/tailwind component would be 15 × cos(90°) = 0, so there’s no headwind or tailwind.