Plain English Meaning

A wind coming from behind the airplane but off to one side, not straight from the back.

Full Definition

A wind that strikes the airplane from behind and at an angle, rather than directly from the tail or directly from the side. It blows from one of the rear quadrants — roughly between the tail and a wingtip — so it has both a tailwind component and a crosswind component.

Context Anchor

Seen during taxiing when deciding how to position the flight controls for wind coming from behind and to the side.

Derivation

‘Quartering’ comes from dividing the area around the airplane into four quarters (front-left, front-, rear-left, rear-right). A wind from one of these diagonal directions is said to come from a ‘quarter’ rather than from directly ahead, behind, or to the side.