Plain English Meaning

Wind coming at the airplane from a front corner, partly from ahead and partly from one side.

Full Definition

A wind that strikes the airplane from a forward angle — neither directly off the nose nor directly off the side — typically from roughly 45 degrees off the longitudinal axis. It combines a headwind component with a crosswind component from the same forward quadrant.

Context Anchor

Seen during taxiing, especially when deciding how to hold the flight controls in windy conditions.

Derivation

‘Quartering’ comes from dividing something into four parts, or quarters. A wind from one of the front quarters — front-left or front-right — is a quartering headwind. Knowing this makes the term self-explanatory: it’s blowing into one of the airplane’s forward quarters.