E6B Wind Triangle & Cross-Country Calculator
The manual E6B is the part of the written that scares people the most. Enter your course, true airspeed, and the wind to see the wind correction angle, your true and magnetic heading, and groundspeed drawn on the compass, then get time en route and fuel for the leg.
Crab 9° to the right to hold a 090° course at 110 kt with the wind from 150° at 20 kt. The written asks for magnetic heading, so apply variation (east is least, west is best) and, on the checkride, deviation from the compass card. Fuel shown here excludes the required VFR reserve.
What the wind triangle is really asking
Every cross-country planning question is one wind triangle. You know where you want to go (the true course), how fast the airplane flies through the air (true airspeed), and what the wind is doing. The wind pushes you sideways, so you have to point the nose into it to track straight. How far you crab is the wind correction angle, and what is left of your airspeed once the wind has had its way is your groundspeed.
The written then chains that groundspeed into time and fuel: distance divided by groundspeed is time en route, and time times your burn rate is fuel. Get the wind triangle right and the rest is arithmetic. This tool runs the exact same relationships an E6B does, so you can see where your manual answer should land.
True, magnetic, compass
The triangle gives you a true heading. The knowledge test usually wants a magnetic heading, so you apply variation: east is least, west is best. On the checkride you go one step further and apply the compass card's deviation. Enter your local variation above to see both headings at once.