You are taking off on Runway 27 with a 30 kts wind from 310 deg M. What is your headwind and crosswind?

• A. 27kts, 3kts
• B. 24kts, 11 kts
• C. 23kts, 19kts
• D. 20kts, 22 kts

Answer: (C)

The wind components are found by breaking the wind into parts that align with the runway direction. With Runway 27 heading 270°, and a wind from 310°, the angle between the wind direction and the runway is 40° (310° to 270°).

Compute the along-runway (headwind) component: 30 kts × cos(40°) ≈ 30 × 0.766 ≈ 23 kts.

Compute the cross-runway (crosswind) component: 30 kts × sin(40°) ≈ 30 × 0.643 ≈ 19 kts.

So the headwind is about 23 kts and the crosswind about 19 kts.