Crosswind component chart

Find the angle between the wind and the runway down the side, the wind speed across the top, and read the crosswind. A second table gives the headwind. Both are whole knots; the factors behind them, the sine and cosine, are in the last table.

How to read it

The angle is the wind direction minus the runway heading, taken as a size from 0° to 90°: 0° is straight down the runway, 90° is straight across. Past 90° the wind is a tailwind. A wind 120° off the nose has the crosswind of one 60° off, and the headwind turns into a tailwind of the same size. (Sine of 120° is sine of 60°; cosine of 120° is minus cosine of 60°.)

The FAA publishes a chart of this kind too, and says to prefer the aircraft maker’s:

Wind conditions affect all airplanes in varying degrees. Figure 4-3-4 is an example of a chart used to determine the headwind, crosswind, and tailwind components based on wind direction and velocity relative to the runway. Pilots should refer to similar information provided by the aircraft manufacturer when determining these wind components. [AIM 4-3-3 e]

Crosswind component, knots

Angle	10 kt	14 kt	18 kt	22 kt	26 kt	30 kt
0°	0	0	0	0	0	0
10°	2	2	3	4	5	5
20°	3	5	6	8	9	10
30°	5	7	9	11	13	15
40°	6	9	12	14	17	19
45°	7	10	13	16	18	21
50°	8	11	14	17	20	23
60°	9	12	16	19	23	26
70°	9	13	17	21	24	28
80°	10	14	18	22	26	30
90°	10	14	18	22	26	30

Headwind component, knots

Angle	10 kt	14 kt	18 kt	22 kt	26 kt	30 kt
0°	10	14	18	22	26	30
10°	10	14	18	22	26	30
20°	9	13	17	21	24	28
30°	9	12	16	19	23	26
40°	8	11	14	17	20	23
45°	7	10	13	16	18	21
50°	6	9	12	14	17	19
60°	5	7	9	11	13	15
70°	3	5	6	8	9	10
80°	2	2	3	4	5	5
90°	0	0	0	0	0	0

The factors

Multiply the wind speed by the factor for the angle. The crosswind factor is the sine and the headwind factor is the cosine, to two places.

Angle	Crosswind factor	Headwind factor
0°	0.00	1.00
10°	0.17	0.98
20°	0.34	0.94
30°	0.50	0.87
40°	0.64	0.77
45°	0.71	0.71
50°	0.77	0.64
60°	0.87	0.50
70°	0.94	0.34
80°	0.98	0.17
90°	1.00	0.00

Whole knots are rounded, so a figure can be off by up to half a knot. For a wind speed or angle not in the tables, use the calculator, or the formula.

How this was checked

The numbers on this page come from the same trigonometry as the Crosswind Calculator iOS app, and an automated test compares them with the app’s own code on a grid of winds and runways (last run October 21, 2026). Statements about runway numbers, METAR and tower wind, and handbooks are quoted from FAA publications, linked where they appear. This is a training and planning aid, not for primary flight operations, and it does not know your airplane’s limits. If something here is wrong, tell us at a@noshu.net.