crosswind

plural crosswinds · alternative abbreviation xwind

1. A wind blowing across a line of travel, especially perpendicularly.

   As part of its application, Macy's submitted "balloon control plans" describing how handlers, under the direction of a "pilot," were to navigate through intersections, where crosswinds can destabilize the balloons.

   2005 November 27, Sewell Chan, “Site of Balloon Accident Is Known for Its Crosswinds”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 23 Nov 2022

   2 more examples

   Correlation of the DFDR and CVR recordings disclosed that the flightcrew had set the flaps and stabilizer trim at 10° and about 5° aircraft noseup, respectively, for takeoff. A rolling takeoff was made, takeoff thrust was stabilized at 80 KIAS, and left rudder and right aileron were used to compensate for the right crosswind. The V₁ and V_R callouts were made about 2 sec after these speeds were recorded by the DFDR.

   1979 December 21, National Transportation Safety Board, “1.11 Flight Recorders”, in Aircraft Accident Report: American Airlines, Inc., DC-10-10, N110AA, Chicago-O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois, May 25, 1979, archived from the original on 17 Aug 2022, page 4

   Further, a compass could only tell a pilot which direction the aircraft was pointing, but it didn’t exactly account for crosswinds that slowly pushed the aircraft sideways. A plane might appear to be flying directly west while actually drifting several miles off course.

   2026 March 7, Sthitapragta Chakraborty, “America Once Built Giant Arrows to Guide Pilots Across the Country, and Some Still Exist Today”, in Skip Boring, archived from the original on 24 Jul 2026