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.
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Instructions
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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.
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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.
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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.
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4
Multiply your answer from step 3 with your answer from step 2.
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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.
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Divide your answer from step 5 with your cruising speed. This answer translates as your approximate flight time.
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