Wind Calculator

Crosswind, at a Glance

Knowing the reported wind is only half the job. What matters for a landing or takeoff decision is how that wind resolves into headwind and crosswind components against a specific runway. AeroSentinel's Wind Calculator does this automatically: pick an airport, and it computes the headwind, tailwind, and crosswind component for every runway end, using the current METAR or the active TAF period, without any manual trigonometry.

Runway-by-Runway Breakdown

For each runway direction at the airport, the calculator shows the effective headwind or tailwind component and the crosswind component with its side (left or right). Components are color-coded by severity: a crosswind above 20 knots is flagged, and above 25 knots it is flagged as a hard limit; a tailwind above 10 knots is flagged, and above 13 knots as a hard limit. The runway ends that are actually workable stand out immediately from the ones that are not.

True, Magnetic, or Runway-Designator Heading

Wind directions in METAR and TAF reports are given relative to true north, while runway designators are named for their magnetic heading. AeroSentinel's calculator lets you switch the reference used for the display between the runway designator's nominal heading, true heading, or magnetic heading (computed from the current World Magnetic Model), so the numbers you see line up with however you prefer to think about the runway.

Built on the Same Live Data

The Wind Calculator reads from the same METAR and TAF data already being monitored for the airport, so there is no separate data entry step. Open it from any airport card or the airport detail page, and it reflects the latest observed or forecast wind immediately. Because it shares the underlying weather feed with the rest of AeroSentinel, a TAF amendment that changes the forecast wind is reflected in the calculator the next time you open it, with no extra steps.