Define wind correction angle (WCA) and its use in navigation.

• A. The angle to adjust the heading to compensate for wind drift and maintain desired track.
• B. An angle used to tilt the aircraft for bank.
• C. The angle between the aircraft's nose and its flight path.
• D. The angle used to calculate climb angle.

Answer: (A)

Wind correction angle is the angle you must rotate the aircraft’s heading into the wind to keep your ground track on the desired course. Wind pushes the airplane sideways, so the nose must be pointed into the wind by a specific amount so the resulting path over the ground matches the intended track. You determine this offset from the wind relative to your airspeed and the wind’s direction, and you continually adjust as wind changes. In practice, if wind shifts you off course, you increase or decrease the wind correction angle to keep flying along the chosen track.

The other ideas don’t fit because one is about bank or roll to tilt the aircraft, which is bank angle; another describes the angle between the nose and the actual flight path (which is a related but different concept often called drift or sideslip); and the last is about climb angle, which relates to altitude gain, not lateral course correction.