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Equivalent Head Winds on Air Routes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 January 2010

Extract

1. Introduction. A detailed paper describing the theory and calculation of equivalent head winds on air routes has been prepared by J. S. Sawyer and is being published as a Meteorological Report. The present paper is a simplified account which draws largely on Mr. Sawyer's paper.

When regular air services over a route are being planned, the wind at the chosen level of flight is an important factor. From the long term point of view, aircraft require to be designed so as to operate economically against adverse winds, if not on all occasions at least on all but a small percentage of occasions; for example, British Overseas Airways Corporation usually specify an 85% regularity of operation as a minimum. Similarly, for short term planning, wind information is necessary for the computations regarding the averages and extremes of fuel consumption, payload, time of flight, and so on. The aircraft operator consequently requires to know the frequency distribution of winds on any given route at any time of the year.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1949

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References

REFERENCES

1Sawyer, J. S. ; Equivalent Head Winds—Statistics of Wind in the Free Atmosphere for Application to Aircraft Operation; Met. Report No. 7; London (in the press).Google Scholar
2Pepper, J., 1944; Preliminary Note on High Level Winds over the North Atlantic, including some results on the Distribution of ‘Equivalent Winds’; Met. Off., London.Google Scholar
3Brooks, C. E. P., Durst, C. S., and others; 1949; Upper Winds over the World; Geophys. Mem. 85; London (in the press); Pt. I also in J. R. Met. Soc., 72, p. 55.Google Scholar
4Bilham, E. G.; 1943; Effect of Cross-wind on the Ground Speed of Aircraft; Met. Off. London.Google Scholar