What action would you take....climb or Desend

[Bruce]

Direction of heading is 248mag...(route klas to honolulu) I have wind 247 mag @81kts...FLT leavel 30,000ft and air speed fluctiating between 497 and 500kts mach set at 85. what is the best action to take?

[macca22au]

Do you mean TAS or IAS.  But I'd go down, as generally winds strengthen with altitude, less friction from the earth, and of course they swing in direction at different heights.  However the airlines often wear it, because a lower altitude means a higher fuel consumption.

You would have to calculate the trade-off.

For the passengers it means another drink.

[Slotback]

Alt Tab to Active Sky X. Find nearest weather station winds, and find the altitude with the least of a headwind or even most tailwind. If using default real world weather, alt tab and go onto the net and find METARS.

But the best way is to avoid going at an incrorrect altitude is not going to that in the first place. Before every flight, go to, www.flightaware.com and search for recently used IFR routes. Type in your departure and arrival and note the altitudes the aircraft take, however, it's a good idea to travel at the optimium altitude for your aircraft and weight, so take that into consideration.

One more thing, east bound flights fly at odd flight levels, west bound flights fly at even flight levels.