---
title: 'Heading vs track'
description: 'Understand heading vs track and course with a wind diagram and a worked example. See why pointing the nose north does not always take you north over the ground.'
lastModified: 2026-10-31
---

**Heading is the direction the aircraft’s nose points. Track is the direction it actually travels over the ground.** With a crosswind, you can hold a steady heading and still move away from the route you intended to follow.

Your planned course is a third direction: where you want to go over the ground. [1](https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/18_phak_ch16.pdf#page=10).

## Heading, track, and course describe different things

Heading is measured between the aircraft’s longitudinal axis, running fore and aft, and a north reference. Track describes its actual path over the Earth; the track direction can also be measured from north. You can express heading and track relative to true or magnetic north. [1](https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/18_phak_ch16.pdf#page=10), [2](https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pcg_html/glossary-t.html).

| Term                    | What you are describing                  | In a northbound flight plan                           |
| ----------------------- | ---------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| Heading                 | Where the nose points                    | It may need to point west of north                    |
| Track                   | Where the aircraft moves over the ground | It is north if the aircraft follows the intended line |
| Course or desired track | The intended path over the ground        | It remains north even if the aircraft drifts east     |

Your **course**, or **desired track**, is the intended ground path. The aircraft may follow a different track even though the plan still calls for north. [3](https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pcg_html/glossary-d.html).

## How wind changes track

The aircraft moves through the air, while the air moves over the ground. To find its motion over the ground, add those two movements:

**Aircraft velocity over the ground = aircraft velocity through the air + wind velocity**

Velocity includes direction as well as speed. A **wind triangle** draws these quantities as arrows: one for air velocity, one for wind, and one for the resulting ground velocity. The direction of the ground arrow is track; its length represents groundspeed. [4](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e18b94740f0b65dcaba9817/Volume_09_Navigation.pdf#page=85).

For the examples below, assume straight, level flight without sideslip, so the aircraft’s movement through the air is aligned with its heading. Hold true airspeed and wind constant.

## A northbound heading can produce an easterly drift

Suppose the aircraft flies at a **true airspeed of 120 kt** on a **heading of 000°T**, with wind **from 270°T at 20 kt**. These are hypothetical teaching values. The letter T means true north is the reference, and a knot is one nautical mile per hour.

The nose points north. The wind blows from the west towards the east. After **10 minutes**, the aircraft’s movement through the air contributes **20 nautical miles north**, while the moving air contributes about **3.3 nautical miles east**.

Draw a line from the starting point to that ground position. It points just east of north: a track of approximately **009.5°T**, rounded to one decimal place.

The heading is still **000°T**.

![Two plan-view wind triangles. On the left, northbound air velocity plus eastward wind gives a ground track east of north. On the right, a heading west of north provides a westward air component that the same wind cancels, leaving a northbound ground track.](/blume-assets/content/content/knowledge/general-navigation/heading-vs-track.png)

_Plan view, north up. Blue shows air velocity along heading, green shows wind flowing east, and orange shows the resulting ground velocity. Both panels use the same speed scale and start separately; they are not a route-interception sequence._

The angle between heading and track is **drift**. Here, track lies about 9.5° to the right of heading while the nose keeps pointing north. [4](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e18b94740f0b65dcaba9817/Volume_09_Navigation.pdf#page=89).

## To hold the desired track, point into the wind

To track north in that westerly wind, point the nose west of north. The aircraft then moves partly west through the air, offsetting the air mass’s movement east. With the right correction, the ground track runs north. [1](https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/18_phak_ch16.pdf#page=9).

That offset from the desired course is the **wind correction angle**. Its size depends on the wind and true airspeed.

A heading that differs from track can be exactly what keeps the aircraft on its planned route. [1](https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/18_phak_ch16.pdf#page=10).

Check what the question asks you to maintain: heading or track. The correction shown here holds a track from the starting point; rejoining a route after drifting away requires a separate interception solution.

Matching heading and track does not prove the air is calm. A direct headwind or tailwind changes groundspeed without adding sideways motion, provided the aircraft is still progressing forwards over the ground. [4](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e18b94740f0b65dcaba9817/Volume_09_Navigation.pdf#page=88).

## Use the same north reference, and check wind direction

Before comparing two angles, check whether each uses **true north** or **magnetic north**. Magnetic variation is the angle between those references at a place and time. A difference caused by variation is not wind drift. [1](https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/18_phak_ch16.pdf#page=6).

For a hypothetical variation of **10° east**, a direction of **090° true** is **080° magnetic**. Those numbers describe the same direction. If you compare track 090°T with heading 080°M without converting them, the apparent 10° difference comes from the north references, not drift.

Wind direction names where the wind comes **from**. In our example, 270°T means from the west, so the wind arrow points east, towards 090°T. Drawing it towards 270° would reverse the drift. Do not assume that every wind report uses the same north reference; check the convention supplied with the question or source. [4](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e18b94740f0b65dcaba9817/Volume_09_Navigation.pdf#page=84).

## Check your understanding

Keep the aircraft at **120 kt true airspeed** and **heading 000°T**. Change the wind to **from 090°T at 20 kt**. Leave the intended course northbound.

1. Which way does the wind move the aircraft?
2. Does its heading change because the wind direction changed?
3. Which side of north will its track lie on?

**Answer:** The wind moves the aircraft west. You are holding heading **000°T**, so the nose still points north, but track is now approximately **350.5°T**. The intended course remains northbound.

In this case, heading and course agree. Track differs from both.

## References

1. [FAA, _Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge_, FAA-H-8083-25C, Chapter 16](https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/18_phak_ch16.pdf): variation, pp. 16-6–16-7; wind, heading, course, track, and correction, pp. 16-8–16-10.
2. [FAA _Pilot/Controller Glossary_: TRACK and TRACK [ICAO]](https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pcg_html/glossary-t.html).
3. [FAA _Pilot/Controller Glossary_: DESIRED COURSE and DESIRED TRACK](https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/pcg_html/glossary-d.html).
4. [UK Ministry of Defence, _AP3456_, Volume 9, chapter 9-4](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5e18b94740f0b65dcaba9817/Volume_09_Navigation.pdf): vectors, pp. 1–3; track and drift, pp. 5–6; revised July 2010.