Definition
Aircraft headings that point into the wind. During a steep spiral, these are the portions of each turn where the airplane is flying against the wind, which produces the slowest groundspeed and the tightest ground track relative to the reference point.
Plain English
The parts of the turn where the nose is pointed into the wind. The plane is flying against the wind during these portions, so it moves more slowly across the ground.
Context Anchor
Used in steep spirals and other ground-reference maneuvers when correcting the turn for wind.
Derivation
Upwind' simply means 'toward the source of the wind' — the direction the wind is coming from. A heading is the direction the airplane's nose is pointed. So an upwind heading is one where the nose is pointed into the oncoming wind.
Why Pilots Care
Proper bank adjustment on these headings prevents the turn radius from tightening or expanding, keeping the spiral precise and safe during practice of emergency descents.
Grounding Statement
As the airplane turns into the wind, it covers less ground each second, so the turn does not need to be as steep to stay around the same point.
Intuition Check
Do not read upwind headings as simply “the windy part of the maneuver” or as a traffic-pattern leg. Here it means the directions where the airplane’s nose is pointed generally into the wind.
Example Sentence 1
On upwind headings during the steep spiral, the pilot reduced the bank angle to keep the ground track circular around the reference point.
Example Sentence 2
The airplane flew slower over the ground on upwind headings, so less bank was needed to hold the desired radius.