Hi!
This topic has nothing to do with software problems. Didn’t know where else to post this.
My question is- is there some equals to aircraft weight and crosswind? Does the 20kg airplane have less influence in crosswind than 10kg aircraft? Not in landing or takeoff, just in cruise.
Is there any formulas to calculate the drift in the air affected by the weight and crosswind?
Thanks alot!
wind is the air mass moving relative to the ground. to an aircraft moving through this air, there is no wind, no matter its weight or size. steady crosswind affects only the airplane’s ground speed and track.
one rule of thumb for wind correction angle is 60/TAS x windspeed, that is for wind angles of 60-120°.
i hesitated with whether to respond or not, as the motive for the question is not very clear.
Are tou concerned about the disturbance the airplane gives to its environment or concerned about maintaining the correct course for your aircraft?
I assumed the latter in my response below:
If you are adding ballast to a 10kg aircraft to double its mass (@20kg), then you are multiplying its cruise speed by Sqrt(2)=1.414.
Now the rest is a question of vector algebra. Say, your aircraft cruises at 10m/s at 10kg without ballast and the cross-wind speed is 5m/s. Then your drift angle is atan(5/10)=26.6 degrees which means you need to point the airplane 26.6 degrees upwind to maintain your intended course.
Now, with ballast, your drift angle becomes atan(5/14.14)=19.5 degrees, which means you are able to maintain a slightly straighter course with less drift.