Headwinds, always

You expected tailwinds? Hah Hah!!

Seriously, do pilots here aggressively analyze winds aloft detail as
available on ADDs? I certainly do and can often offset a bad headwind
by flying lower than I would normally, and on occassion even flying
higher. Sometimes, 1 thousand feet above or below the inversion will
give a shift that turns a HW into a TW - or at least shuffles the deck.
For example, going to 10,000 on a day may make that 20 knot quartering
HW turn into 10knot quartering on my tail. And the fuel economy is
great at 10 if the cruise is long enough (doesn't have to be all that
long to justify a climb).

With the amazingly accurate ADDS winds forecast combined with GPS
Groundspeed readouts, I can see the wind shift that normally conincides
with the main temp inversion. Sometimes on the way up to 6 or 7 to get
out of the convection I'll watch my GS drop 8 or 10 knots. By going
back down a thousand I can sometims get the speed back and still remain
out of the bumps. The current tool set can be used to great advantage
at times.

Paul kgyy wrote:
I just returned from an 8-day tour of the midwest. This was a 6-leg
circular route west to Des Moines from Chicago, then up to the Dakotas,
back through Duluth, Green Bay. We mostly flew at 7000 ft. We had
20-30 knot headwinds on 5 of the 6 legs and never once a tailwind.