Originally Posted by
cblaisd
Every airplane in the United States has been certified for a maximum crosswind component (which is a calculation involving the direction of the wind and speed -- e.g., a 50 knot headwind 5 degrees off the nose will be less of a crosswind component that a 90 degree crosswind at 20 knots).
How is this calculated? Is there a distinct formula for each type of aeroplane (let's say v=10cosT+5sinT where T is the angle off the nose of the aeroplane) to allow forcalculations over an entire continuous cylindrical coordinate system or is it some sort of discrete table (10 kt at 90 degrees, 20 kt at 45 degrees, 50 kt at 0 degrees)?