Next step - real-life pilot license!!! Cheers.
AT one point I was literally just searching on the web, what all buttons in the aircraft each meant. I never had an interest in flying or planes before i saw MSFS was coming out so was totally new to meat the time.
OK, well whilst you CAN fly circuits entirely visually by flying runway head to 500’ AGL then lining up 90 degrees to the runway for crosswind (in a cessna you are on crosswind for only a few seconds though) then flying parallel for downwind etc - when you are still learning doing it that way is not the best plan.
Instead make some NOTES beforehand of heights and headings.
For example - cheat notes for circuits on Runway 05.
- Fly runway heading of 50 degrees till 500 ’ AGL (make a note beforehand of what altimeter reading is 500’ AGL at your airfield)
- Check all directions for traffic and then commence a turn to crosswind heading of 320 degrees while maintaining best climb speed (make a note of this speed beforehand)
- Once you hit 320 degrees check distance from runway, either maintain 320 to increase separation or if you look far enough out continue turning to the downwind heading of 230 degrees
- turn on to downwind levelling out at 1000’ AGL (make a note beforehand of what altimeter reading is 1000’ AGL at your airfield) and maintaining downwind heading of 230 degrees
- level with runway depending on aircraft reduce throttle, drop gear, add first stage of flaps maintain 320 degrees
- In countries like Australia or the US maintain 1000’ until the turn for base ( in the UK etc start to reduce height as you approach base) standard circuit patterns are different in different countries
- when far enough past the runway turn to base heading of 140 degrees apply more flap as necessary start (or continue) to reduce height
- try and turn final ( 50 degree heading) so as to line up with the runway centre line at about 600’ AGL (make a note beforehand of what altimeter reading is 600’ AGL at your airfield) doing the approach speed specified in the POH or if POH unavailable use about 1.3 times stall (make a note beforehand of what this speed) is
- On final maintain runway heading of 50 degrees maintaining strictly the final approach speed you have noted down and tracking the centreline
etc etc … you get the idea
A couple of random videos of circuits in game … note these are not fantastic precisely flown examples of a circuit they are pretty erratic in places, just some random videos I saved last year …
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Kjaye767, Hopefully not to be redundant, but to clarify, it is the air rushing over the wing surface that creates lift for the aircraft. The shape of the wing causes air to rush faster over the top of the wing than it does underneath, creating low pressure above the wing. So by flying into the wind, the air is rushing that much faster over the wing, allowing greater lift for the aircraft. That is why you take off down the runway at full throttle. That is why WWII carriers always turned into the wind to launch and retrieve aircraft, so they would get more lift in the short runs, and have more lift during low speed landings. HTH
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I disagree on the first part since I’m in group of lift due to downwash theory.
Just to make sure, when flying there is no head or tailwind concerning aerodynamics and performance.
This is only applicable as long as the aircraft is on ground.
That’s one of the most important key points in the pattern and the question, especially for a beginner is, how do I know when I’m far enough past the runway?
Since you’ve been flying the 152, I’ll recommend this, and also there are a couple videos on his channel that go over the basics of patterns and navigation. (1) The Complete Cessna 152 Tutorial- Microsoft Flight Simulator - YouTube
you’re absolutely right there is a lifetime of stuff to learn in aviation. it never stops! lol but that’s the fun. 
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Danke für ihren wertvollen Link! Lange gesucht - endlich gefunden!
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Hi Tomcat677801,
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The ability of an aerofoil to create a low pressure area over it’s surface creating ‘lift’ is well understood and easily demonstrated. But of course other factors are at play here, including the so called downwash theory - just hold your hand at an angle out of the window of a moving car and you can feel the lifting force. However these two phenomena are NOT mutually exclusive. Both elements are part of what makes for an efficient wing. And by that I mean try substituting a given aircrafts aerofoil for a non aerofoil shaped wing and watch the take off and stall speeds increase.
Thanks for all the links and suggestions everyone, lots for me to think about!
Threshold 45 degrees behind the wingtip or for circling, time the height (/100) x 3, so 1000 ft = 30 seconds. Thats how we used to do it at least.
Not as well understood as you might think… We are all familiar with Newtons third law of motion. An aerofoil deflects the air downwards (downwash) which means there must be an equal and opposite reaction to that. Are the downwash and the traditional explanation of lift just different explanations of the same phenomena? Or do they complement each other? The ATPL(A) learning objectives stay with the traditional explanation (continuity law, Bernoulli, pressure differences etc.)…
NASA of course has multiple topics on the subject, one explains Newtons 3rd law in aerodynamics:
Exactly. E.g. the NACA 0010 has the highest CL at an AoA of 45°.
I’d assume that the lift creating low pressure on top isn’t there anymore since quite some time 
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Wind doesn’t “push you along” in an airplane if you’re flying (i.e. not on the ground) - the plane moves with the air. In real life if my destination is due north, and there’s a strong wind blowing east or west, I have to angle to the left or to the right in order for my path along the ground to be due north.
When landing - if you land at 55 knots indicated airspeed, and the wind is blowing in your face at 20 knots, then your actual ground speed is only 35 knots. This makes it safer and easier to land - you don’t require as much braking, etc.
When taking off, same thing - if your lift off speed it 55 knots and you have a headwind of 20 knots, then you’ll lift off the ground when only moving 35 knots relative to the ground. Again - safer because it’s lower speed, plus it makes the runway “longer” - at 35 knots you’ll have a lot more runway left when you lift off.
Hope this helps!
Scott
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But don’t look at the wind generator, they are all facing north. It’s a shame.
The whole “wind” problem can be hard to understand, I posted this in a different thread some time ago, hope it makes sense:
On ground
The aircraft is stationary on the ground while the mass of air is moving around it, this is perceived as wind. If this mass of air is moving towards you at a 100 kts (headwind) the aircraft would perceive this as flying at 100 kts through the air. For an aerofoil there is no difference between moving through the air at 100 kts or being stationary while the air is moving around it at 100 kts (hence the principle of a windtunnel), aerodynamically this is exactly the same thing, the kinetic energy is the same. In the above example, although the airspeed indicator would indicate 100 kts and the aircraft performance being the same as flying through the air at 100 kts, the ground speed would be zero!
Using a less extreme example. If your aircraft needs 60 kts indicated airspeed to rotate, and there would not be any wind at all, the aircraft needs to accelerate 60 kts. In standard atmosphere (standard air density) and at sea level we can directly relate indicated airspeed (technically the calibrated airspeed) to groundspeed. So for the example above both airspeed and groundspeed at time of rotation would read the same (60 kts).
With a 20 kt headwind, otherwise same conditions, the groundspeed at rotation would be 40 kts. With a 20 kt tailwind the aircraft needs to accelerate to 80 kts groundspeed. Accelerating to 80 kts obviously requires more runway to achieve, in addition the aircraft would also experience more wheel drag at 80 kts compared to 60 or 40 kts. In all the above conditions the indicated airspeed would be 60 kts and unless looking outside and seeing the end of the runway approaching faster or timing the take-off roll you wouldn’t notice the difference, the aircraft in all three conditions would feel and perform the same way.
In-flight
It is important to understand is that an aircraft in flight is moving in relation to the air around it (hence airspeed) and not in relation to the ground. In flight an aircraft does technically not experience wind as the aircraft is flying within a mass of air taking it somewhere, although we generally keep calling it headwind if the mass of air with you inside is moving in opposite direction, vice versa for tailwind or moving sideways along the ground is called crosswind, I’m also using these terms in my examples below but technically not correct. There might be sudden changes of direction and/or speed within this airmass perceived as turbulence or even windshear. Compare this to a log of wood floating in a river, the log of wood itself does not move in relation to the water, the mass of water with the log of wood floating on top is going somewhere.
When airborne the aircraft flies in relation to the air around it. In other words if the aircraft is climbing in a 100 kt “headwind” (technically the aircraft does not experience wind) the aircraft is not gonna “feel” any difference. It takes the same power, the rate of climb is the same etc. If climbing at 100 kts AIRSPEED with a 100 kt headwind the ground speed is gonna be 0 kts and the aircraft is climbing straight up like a helicopter according to an observer on the ground. Not that this is very practical in real life as a 100 kt wind is probably gonna be extremely turbulent.
To explain it completely the mickey mouse way. Imagine a fish in a fishing bowl swimming from one end to the other end of the fishing bowl. This fish is not gonna notice anything, does not have to swim faster etc. if you pick-up the bowl in the mean time and move it somewhere else. This fish would not notice anything at all unless looking outside and noticing moving in a different direction in relation to the table, in relation to the water in the fishing bowl nothing has changed. Hope that makes sense. I have flown backwards this way in small single engine piston aircraft (in relation to the ground). Having an airspeed of lets say 50 kts while the mass of air with your airplane inside is moving in the opposite direction with > 50 kts, in relation to the ground the aircraft is flying backwards.
Wind does not have any affect on an aircraft performance in relation to the air. In relation to the ground it does have an effect, an observer on the ground will see an aircraft climb-out steeper with a headwind and more shallow with a tailwind, when flying from A to B with a headwind it takes longer so more fuel is required. When there is X-wind you have to apply a wind correction angle to fly the correct ground track.
Examples
I created a little example below, the square is a mass of air, 1000 ft high. The blue arrow represents an aircraft flying from one end of the airmass (point A) to the other end (point B) in one minute (1000 ft / min rate of climb) with 100 kts indicated airspeed. If there is no wind the blue line is both the air vector and the ground vector, it is the path the aircraft travels in relation to both the air and the ground.
If we now assume the airmass itself with the aircraft inside it is moving in the opposite direction with 100 kts while the aircraft is flying from point A to point B with 100 kts, we will have the situation as illustrated below.
- Blue is the air vector (the path the aircraft travels through the air),
- Red is the wind vector (the direction and speed the air mass is moving),
- Green is the ground vector (the aircraft movement in relation to the ground).
In other words the aircraft does exactly the same in relation to the surrounding air no matter the wind, same airspeed, same rate of climb etc. the pilot would not notice anything as long as he doesn’t look outside the window. the aircraft behaves the same and performs the same. Assuming the wind is 100 kts steady. An observer on the ground would see the aircraft climb vertically like a helicopter 
. The way to look at this is as follows: the aircraft is flying from A to B, but whilst it is doing that, point B is shifting in opposite direction.
If we take this example even further and assume the windspeed is higher than the aircraft speed through the air we can even fly backwards. Backwards in relation to the ground to be clear, in relation to the air we are still going 100 kts, kinetic energy is still the same:
If there are sudden changes in speed or direction within the airmass you will feel this as turbulence or even windshear and this will obviously influence performance.
To add to this when you are on the runway on the brakes with lets say 20 kts of headwind, this is 20 kts of airspeed you have to accelerate less. Also the groundspeed at which you rotate is 20 kts lower so the overall ground distance is shorter. Same is true when landing. Still in relation to the air nothing has changed, the aircraft rotates at the same airspeed, has the same kinetic energy as if there was no wind (okay drag from the wheels is lower due to the lower ground speed so this is also positive).
Another fun example: as you know a glider has no engine and to overcome the drag and keep flying it needs to descent continuously. This way part of the weight is acting as thrust (like rolling a shopping cart down a ramp). As soon as a glider pulls the nose up in order to climb this weight acting as thrust reduces and does not compensate for the drag anymore, the airspeed reduces and the plane eventually stalls.
So if a glider has to descent continuously in order to keep flying, how does a glider stay in the air? As soon as the air mass with the glider inside is climbing faster than the glider is descending, the glider climbs in relation to the ground. A glider is however ALWAYS descending in relation to the air:
If you would take the examples above into the horizontal plane (top down view) and draw the same triangle you can figure out what will happen with the ground track. If the mass of air with the aircraft inside is moving to the left (crosswind) the aircraft will need to correct for that by flying to the right within the airmass to cancel out the “wind” and fly the correct ground track. Looking outside you will notice the aircraft flying over the ground in a “crab”, i.e. the nose not pointing in the direction the aircraft is traveling over the ground.
Hope that makes sense…
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Ya know, while none of that is incorrect (I think, I fell asleep twice working through it and then just decided your intentions were good)… I don’t think that scale of answer is really relevant to the discussion.
The question is…
If the runway is 26, what heading am I pointing at take off? answer 260ish
If the wind is reported as 180ish, what is my best take off heading? Answer 180ish.
Winds are reported where they are blowing FROM
Runways are the direction they are pointed TO.
Anything beyond that gets kind of esoteric. At least as a response to the specific question asked by the OP.
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If you would read the rest of the thread you will find the discussion going on why taking off / landing with headwind would be beneficial compared to tailwind. I have been a classroom for all PPL and ATPL subjects and flight instructor for years. When getting involved into these kind of questions or discussions you need to look for the underlying (root) cause of the issue which is why I’ve posted what I’ve posted.
I guess people are playing flight sim for different reasons, some want to learn, some just want to fly a Boeing 747 upside down under a bridge. I invested 30 min of my time putting this together, its for free, do with it whatever you want, if you don’t wanna read it, or it makes you fall asleep then don’t read it (or read it when having troubles falling asleep maybe). People having difficulties understanding this principle, I hope it helps, cheers 
.
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Your certifications and qualifications aren’t what I was driving at.
You turned on the knowledge firehose to water a houseplant, thats all. If thats the detail you go to with guys on their intro ride, I’m happy to have missed you. At the beginning it doesn’t need to be that complex.