Yesterday I faced 156kt headwinds over the Pyrenees, needed to stop at Poitiers for fuel and then had 70 knot headwinds. A really tough day. However my day was made when my evening trip to EDDB had a long direct (360nm) and a tailwind. Even though it didn’t by any means counteract the negative impact of the earlier flights.
I think pilots are irrationally happy with tailwinds and likewise irrationally unhappy with headwinds. Am I wrong?
When your outbound flight is just over 2 hours and the return almost 4, it’s a big frustration. If I can do The Times crossword in a sector, either the headwinds are too strong or I’m going to the Canaries.
Equally, the unmitigated joy in a flight deck somewhere over Poland when given Direct GORLO is something to behold 
Direct BATEL or NASAT is fairly common from the UK FIR if going to Berlin. Ditto SUI if going to Poland. Maastricht are pretty bloody good at that sort of thing.
PS just seen spins are approved?!? Any brave pill consumers tried them?
just seen spins are approved
You missed the NO ACROBATIC MANEUVERS INCLUDING … SPINS APPROVED.
They clearly exclude from the definition of acrobatic – getting into a PA46 cockpit!
Given that any wind is a headwind (i.e. anything other than nill wind will result in a higher total inbound+outbound time), the only irrational bit is being happy with tailwinds.
Given that any wind is a headwind (i.e. anything other than nill wind will result in a higher total inbound+outbound time), the only irrational bit is being happy with tailwinds.
You are right, but the next axiom is that you tailwind will never be as good as the headwind you just got flying the other way. This is true even ignoring your correct math that if it were the same, the total trip length would still be longer.
You are right, but the next axiom is that you tailwind will never be as good as the headwind you just got flying the other way. This is true even ignoring your correct math that if it were the same, the total trip length would still be longer.
So true 
On Sunday morning I flew to seaside with 30-45 kts of headwind and on a way back the tailwind was 15-30 kts although it was forcasted to be even stronger than in the morning.
On Sunday we flew to Flensburg for a pre purchase inspection and had a 15 kts tailwind that increased a bit when we reached the coastline. On the way back, we were surprised by a stronger headwind than predicted and thus more fuel burn so we had to divert to Bremen and fly Bremen to Münster at night. On that flight we had an average GS of 71 kts and a TAS of 112 – 115 kts (2550 RPM @ 3000 ft around MTOM… not bad for that old girl…). Weather changed a bit during the day but with the original forcast we would have made it in daylight. Fortunately we were equipped and rated for VFR night.
Usually my stay at the destination is long enough to get headwinds in both directions.
