vincent p. norris wrote:

I wonder what people mean, today, when they say "E-6B." Are they
talking about the old faithful hand-powered "whizz-wheel," or one of
those outrageously priced battery-powered jobs?


The whizzer, of course (atleast I do).

With a little experience, calculating-- or really, guesstimating--
wind correction angle (unless one is planning to cross the Atlantic
Ocean) requires nothing more than a recollection of high-school trig.

Recall, for example, the characteristics of a 60-30 right triangle.
That will give you the WCA for the stiffest crosswind you are ever
likely to encounter. Interpolation will give you the WCA for lighter
winds, with sufficient accuracy for flying two- or three-hour legs in
a typical GA airplane, using pilotage to fine tune the heading.



Yeah, the one time when my trig came in handy is when I was figuring out
the equations for creating an excel (and javascript) spreadsheet for the
navigation log.