Mental Math for Pilots | Helpful Tips for the Cockpit

[@flightinsight9111]

Excuse the nasally voice, I'm getting over a cold!

[@halloweenguy3121]

you sounded great and the content was super helpful, thank you flightinsight!

[@AcramMay]

Dont worry You are doing great job . Wish yo fast recovery .

[@thebadgerpilot]

One of the best tricks I’ve heard is the “Rule of Sixths” for crosswind component. Take the degrees of the wind off centerline and truncate it to the tenths digit. Put that number over six, and that gives you the fraction of total wind that’s your crosswind component. For example, if using RWY 21 and the winds are 240 at 10. The winds are 30 degrees off the runway. Truncate that to 3. 3/6ths of the 10kt wind is about a 5kt crosswind component.

[@Saml01]

Not enough brain cycles for fractions. I’ll just fly the plane and see if I have enough rudder. 😉

[@SmittyPilot]

Here's another one - it's the +2 -2 rule for calculating reciprocal heading. Example if flying 130º what is the reciprocal heading? as this is on the 0-180 side of the compass, you would +2 and -2 (1+2 and 3-2) to the current heading which would be 310º . Same for 310º it would be -2 +2 as it is on the 181-360 side of the compass.

[@mrgmahon]

I definitely have spent some time explaining and teaching how to round (conservatively) fuel burn rates, time to fly, and day/night fuel reserves.

[@andrewmaclean9810]

I'm solid at math, always enjoyed it, always got good grades in it, have no problem counting in my head. But holy shit even the most basic arithmetic can be brutal when you're flying. I remember early in my training I got a bit disoriented in the pattern so I quickly tried to subtract 90 degrees twice from my previous 2 headings to figure out where I'm supposed to point the nose. My god even something basic like that, it was like my brain was frozen up, RAM overload, bluescreen of death

[@pivertigineux]

Same, but then I started doing it graphically with the heading indicator. Wanna subtract 90 degrees to your current heading? Just have a look at the number on the left side.

[@andrewmaclean9810]

@ yeah thats what I do now. i wasn’t thinking right straight lmao

[@eds.173]

I put the heading bug on runway heading before takeoff and wait for it to reach a 90 degree angle on the heading indicator before leveling off from turn. Sure helps in a high wing and works well with the rest of the 90 degree turns in the pattern.

[@andrewmaclean9810]

@ ohhhh this one is good I'm gonna start doing this

[@siersmar]

I definitely agree with your point. I was taught to either add 200 and subtract 20 or subtract 200 and add 20 to calculate reciprocal headings. (ie heading 330 - 200 = 130 + 20 = 150) (80 + 200 = 280 - 20 = 260).

[@DNModels]

There's a wonderful book about math for pilots. All kinds of conversions and tips. If a video is made about each, I bet you can expand your video library significantly and the playlist will be among your most wanted too.

[@ralfsingmann6580]

Thanks for the hint. Could you provide us the book title?

[@bernardanderson3758]

Keep doing more of this

[@OscarDiaz-nn9ch]

These are cool, but so far, the coolest for me is the "when to decent" Let's say we're cruising at 5500 and need to decent to our destination airport pattern altitude of 1700. 5500-1700=3800X3=11,400 take the two last 0s, and you end up having 11.4 miles to descent from 5500 to 1700 at 500 FPM.

[@gregorylocke]

@@OscarDiaz-nn9ch I figure that this formula will only work at 87 knots. What if you are flying at 250 knots? A better way is to use time. 500 fpm in your example will take 7.6 minutes. How fast is your airplane going in miles per minute. ie: 60 knots = 1 mile/minute, 120 knots = 2 miles/minute etc. So in your case you are roughly doing 1.5 miles/minute. So 1.5x7.6=11.4. If you are in a faster airplane doing 250 knots that’s about 4 miles/minute. Therefore 4x7.6=30 miles. So it’s all dependent on your speed.

[@jingle1161]

​@@gregorylocke I believe this calc (height x 3) is based on a 3deg descent angle. You can then calc descent rate for 3deg angle by doing 5 x groundspeed (5 x 250GS = 1500fpm)

[@gregorylocke]

@ I’m assuming he’s flying in a non-pressurized aircraft so 500 fpm so that would be the limiting factor. So you have to figure your time to descend.

[@Prime2112]

One of the best rules of thumb I've ever been taught, is in the northern hemisphere of the USA, when your turning to a compass direction, you rollout on a higher degree the more north you want to point. Like N would be 30 degrees early, 330 would be 20 degrees early, and 300 would be 10 degrees early. Hope that makes sense! And thanks for the Tips!

[@gregorylocke]

Doesn’t make sense to me. Are you using a gyro compass (DG)?

[@chrisweinreich3406]

@@gregorylocke kzbin.info/www/bejne/eabJaXpsaqqDndk

[@gregorylocke]

@@Prime2112 Hi Chris. It sounds to me like you are trying to turn to a heading using the magnetic compass. It’s a hit and miss and very confusing because the compass card is spinning on an axis and turning opposite to the direction you want to go. A better way is to use the Turn Coordinator doing a Rate One turn. A rate one turn is 3 degrees/second. If I recall from many years ago the formula to figure the bank angle is to take 10% of your airspeed and add 7. So if you are doing 100 knots your bank angle will be 17 degrees. The white line on the turn coordinator will confirm you are doing a rate one turn. So to get more or less precise turn to a heading. Note your heading on the magnetic compass. For example you are flying 270 and want to turn to 360, that’s 90 degrees of turn which divided by 3 would take you 30 seconds. The time to roll in to the turn and roll out has to be compensated so the best way to do that is. start your time…roll into the turn…stop the time… roll out of the turn. So it’s Time-Turn, Time-Turn. Anyhow something to consider if you have to be more precise turning to a heading using the magnetic compass.

[@Saml01]

Lead with 1/2 the latitude your on is close enough.

[@eds.173]

@@Saml01 I've read (Sparky Imeson's Mountain Flying) to use the actual latitude for the lead/lag amount.

[@df0813]

I came here to brush up on those "popular" ones, but enjoyed the lesser used ones nonetheless! Thanks!

[@garyxu5929]

And calculating the crosswind component, if it's 30 degree, it's half the wind; 45° - 0.7x; 60° - pretty much all crosswind, 0.866x.

[@eds.173]

I find it easier to use 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1, for 15, 30, 45, and 60+ degrees wind direction.

[@bernardanderson3758]

I got this figured out and it’s easier than getting the E6B out

[@Ficon]

How do you estimate when you are too close for missiles and need to switch to guns?

[@garyxu5929]

To calculate the reciprocal radial, i.e. +-180, for hundreds and tens, if you can add 2, add 2; if you can minus 2, minus 2. Do the opposite for the hundreds and tens.

[@aviatortrucker6285]

A good rule of thumb is keep your iPhone handy. It has a conversion app on it and also a calculator. You also have the ability to ask Siri what you need to know.

[@df0813]

Siri gets pretty dumb when you can't connect to a cell or wifi network. But at least she apologizes and admits her shortcomings.

[@TyH-i6g]

For a second, I thought I read mental health for pilots. It was almost refreshing to hear that. we are looked at as nothing but big egos with no humility .Mental health can play a big role aviation and safety. I realize we have to be careful with what we say thanks to the bureaucrats who govern us. however, a video like that would be beneficial for all I think.