How to Calculate Flight Times

Air transportation has become one of the top ways to travel in the world, and you can now calculate flight times based on a number of factors during the flight. While airlines give estimated arrival times, these may prove inaccurate in some situations; moreover, many private flights may not have exact times attached to them. Using the calculations below, you can determine approximate flight times yourself.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Calculator
• Protractor
• Map of your traveling path

1. Determine the following information about your flight: number of geographic miles between your destinations, cruising altitude, planned speed and expected wind conditions along your path. You can obtain these numbers from the airline and from a detailed weather service.

2. Determine the travel time with no weather conditions. You can do this by dividing the distance of travel by the planned speed of travel.

3. Use trigonometry to figure out the wind component you will be flying with or into. On a map, use a protractor to measure the angle of the wind coming into your plane with the flight of the plane. Find the cosine of that angle with a calculator, and multiply this result with the wind speed.

4. Multiply your answer from step 3 with your answer from step 2.

5. Add your result from step 4 with the total geographic distance of your flight to get the total air miles of your trip with wind factored in.

6. Divide your answer from step 5 with your cruising speed. This answer translates as your approximate flight time.

References

• Calculating Flight Times