11/2/23, 12:47 PM Rules of Thumb | SKYbrary Aviation Safety

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Rules of Thumb Article

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Definition Theory
Category:of
Used correctly, rules of thumb (sometimes know as Flight
“heuristics") can assist significantly in pilot decision making
Content
and understanding. A rule of thumb is a principle with SKYbrary
source:
broad application that is not intended to be strictly
accurate or reliable for every situation. It is an easily learned The

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and easily applied procedure for approximately calculating Content
Air
control:
some value. It is particularly useful as a means of cross- Pilots
checking or confirming the validity of information being
displayed by aircraft navigation systems and flight
management systems.

1 in 60 Rule
A 1 degree offset angle at 60 nm equates to 1 nm of
displacement.

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11/2/23, 12:47 PM Rules of Thumb | SKYbrary Aviation Safety

Flying speeds that simplify mental arithmetic can help you

in many ways, such as keeping retaining situational
awareness during radar vectoring.
120Kts = 2nms/min
180Kts = 3nms/min
240Kts = 4nms/min
300Kts = 5nms/min
The 1 in 60 rule combined with Speed/Distance/Time
assumptions is the basis of many other ‘rules of thumb’
that can be useful in pilot navigation (or to check that an
FMS-calculated track makes sence. For example:
At 120 kt groundspeed, the aircraft travels 60nm in 30
minutes. A 10 kt wind blows the aircraft 5 nm in 30 minutes
At 120 kt groundspeed, a 10 kt crosswind will cause 5
degrees of drift
Maximum drift angle (Max Drift) = Windspeed divided
by Groundspeed in miles per minute

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Conversions
1 m/s = 2 its = 4 km/hr approx

Crosswind Component
Useful for evaluating runway crosswind from reported
wind, the crosswind is a function of the SINE of the angle
between the runway and the wind direction. Therefore,
crosswind can be estimated as follows:

Sine of angle
Angle between Crosswind
between
wind component
wind direction
and runway (% of wind
and runway in
(degrees) strength)
degrees
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0 0 0
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15 so. 25 0.26

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Sine of angle
Angle between Crosswind
between
wind component
wind direction
and runway (% of wind
and runway in
(degrees) strength)
degrees

30 50 0.5

60 or more 100 0.87

The analogue clock face provides an easy way to

remember this:
15 min = ¼ of an hour 15 degrees off = ¼ of the total wind
across 30 min = ½ of an hour 30 degrees off = ½ of the total
wind across 60 min = A full hour 60 degrees off = All of the
wind across
A similar process can be used to estimate wind effect on
groundspeed

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Combining Max drift and Crosswind component:
Flying at 420 kt groundspeed (7 nm/min) in the vicinity of
a 60 kt wind (approx. 8½ degrees max drift) headwind
from 30 degrees off track, the expected drift angle is just
over 4 degrees.
Flying at 420 kt airspeed in the vicinity of a 60 kt wind
from 30 degrees off track, groundspeed will be
approximately 360 kt (~6 nm/min) so max drift is 10
degrees and the expected drift angle will be 5 degrees.

Slant Range
Overhead a Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) the
indicated range will be equal to the altitude of the aircraft.
One NM is approximately 6,000’ (actually 6,076’)

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Slant Range Overhead DME = Altitude in feet/6000

Horizon Range
The horizon (in nautical miles) will be approximately the
square root of the height in feet:

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At 10,000ft, the horizon at at approximately 100nm
At 20,000ft, the horizon at at approximately 140nm
At 30,000ft, the horizon at at approximately 170nm

Descent Range
Different types will have different performance so pilots
must establish and check any ‘rule’ for their own aircraft.
30 per 10 plus 10…
For many older jet transports, a normal descent from
cruise altitude descent required about 30 nm for each
10,000ft of height loss and a further 10 nm to slow down.
Therefore:
30,000’ cruise = (3 x 30) + 10 = 100 nm descent
35,000’ cruise
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11/2/23, 12:47 PM Rules of Thumb | SKYbrary Aviation Safety

Modern, more efficient aircraft, will need greater distances

but similar rules of thumb can often be defined from a
review of performance figures and line experience. You
may find that (e.g.) “40 per 10 plus 15” works better for your
type. The important point here is that well practiced rules
of thumb may need to be revised dramatically when
changing from one type to another.
Similarly, to confirm that a descent profile is going well:
30 out at 10 and 250….
Thirty miles from the airport at 10,000' and 250 knots.
If at 30 nm from destination, the aircraft is still above either
10,000’ or 250 kt (or both!) getting down and reducing
speed to achieve a stabilized approach will be a real
challenge in many jet transports.

Diagram showing Descent range rules of thumb KCABDEEF

Final Approach
3 degree glideslope = 300’/nm to touchdown
Again from the 1 in 60 rule, 3 degrees at 60 nm ~ 3 nm ~
18,000’ so 3 degrees at 6 nm ~ 1,800’ and 3 degrees at 1 nm
~ 300’) We use cookies on this site to enhance your
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11/2/23, 12:47 PM Rules of Thumb | SKYbrary Aviation Safety

spot any gross errors.

Rate of Descent on Final Approach

For a 3 degree glideslope, required rate of descent in feet
per minute is approximately equal to ground speed in
knots multiplied by 5.
From the above, at 120 knots GS, the rate of descent to
maintain a 3 degree glideslope is approximately 600 fpm

Payload and Fuel

It is always useful to check mentally that loading figures
make sense. While it may not be true for every situation (so
pilots must review the circumstance of their own operation
before using this), many pilots find the following rule of
thumb effective:
10 pax equates to 1 ton.
For a very rough estimate: Trip fuel = flight time x cruise
fuel flow

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ILS
At the threshold, 1/2 LOC dot = 1/2 runway width
On a very foggy take-off if you think you are lined up on the
C/`L lights and you see half a dot deviation on the ILS, you
must be looking at the edge lights!

Weather Radar
You can use the 1 in 60 rule to determine height of weather
returns. However, remember the beam width is typically +/-
2 deg.
You can measure beam width in flight by looking for the
range of the (first) ground return from altitude for a given
search angle, e.g.: At 30,000ft, tilt -1 deg, if first ground
return is We
100 use
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If you have any other rules of thumb that you find useful
so.
then please send the information to the Editor
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11/2/23, 12:47 PM Rules of Thumb | SKYbrary Aviation Safety

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Categories: Theory of Flight, General Aviation

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