Q: When flight planning a round trip, isn't the time lost fighting a headwind gained back when riding a tailwind?A: Fuel is time in your tanks, and it's important that you know how much time a flight will take. When planning a flight, it is your groundspeed (determined by your airspeed and wind) that will tell you how long, in time, you will need to complete the flight.Not assuming time to climb, just cruising, let's look at a simple example:Airspeed 100 knots, no wind, so groundspeed is 100 knots. A 150-mile flight eastbound will take 1.5 hours, and the return trip westbound will also take 1.5 hours, three hours round trip. Now, let's plan with a 50-knot west wind. Airspeed 100 knots, so groundspeed eastbound is 150 knots and groundspeed westbound is 50 knots. Many will say it doesn't matter as the extra time on the westbound leg will be canceled out by the lesser time on the eastbound leg and it will still take three hours for the round-trip flight. But not so fast!Using any E6B, 150 miles eastbound at 150 knots will take one hour; westbound at 50 knots will take three hours, four hours round trip. That's one full hour longer than the no-wind flight. If your aircraft has 3.5 hours of fuel on board, you can make the no-wind flight, but not the flight with wind. The lesser the wind speed, the lesser the impact, of course, but the result will always be the same. Time lost fighting a headwind is most certainly not gained back when riding a tailwind.
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