Wind Direction

Student pilots can sometimes become bewildered and confused about how to work out where the wind is coming from when approaching to land at an uncontrolled area. Quite often they can feel the helicopter drifting and buffeting due to the wind but the direction is not obvious.

Knowing the wind direction is extremely important for any helicopter pilot. We need to be planning ahead. Knowing what direction the wind is coming from will save valuable seconds in the event of an engine failure and thus allow us to perform a safe autorotation that terminates into wind. When we carry out confined area approaches, we need to be able to assess the wind direction to be able to plan an approach. Departures from confined areas also require us to know the wind direction as quite often this will determine our departure route.