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Comment by odo1242 | Hacker News Reader

> A headwind makes it harder to advance in the direction you're going

nit: except in aviation

Also in aviation, but with caveats; you want to take off and land with a headwind, because the headwind gives a greater airspeed which means greater lift.

This is true for takeoffs but not for landings. You want to land with a headwind because this means that for the same airspeed you have a lower groundspeed, i.e. when you actually touch down you're going slower on the runway than if you touched down at the same airspeed but with a tailwind.

In other words, it's because of the greater lift.

No. Your calculated landing speed doesn't change depending on the winds, so you'll always be touching down at roughly the same airspeed for the same aircraft type, weight, and flap setting. Touching down with a headwind just means you don't need to use the brakes as hard.

It's beneficial on takeoff because headwind already factors into your airspeed before you even start rolling, which gives you more lift for the same groundspeed yes, enabling you to rotate sooner than you otherwise would.

You're literally repeating what the other guy said with different words.

Surely a headwind makes an aircraft travel slower over the ground so it takes longer to reach the destination?

Correct. See e.g.:

https://www.businessinsider.com/3-aircraft-fly-new-york-to-l...

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