The pilot of an aircraft wishes to fly due west in a 50 kmh wind blowing toward the south The speed of the aircraft in the absebce of a wind is 205 kmh In what direction should the aircraft head?

Let the angle of the direction of aircraft making with the west be A. (A vector diagram here would be useful)

sin A = (50/205) or, A = arcsin(50/205) = 14.12 degrees The aircraft should fly 14.12 degrees due North-West from West. Or in aviation terms: the aircraft wishes to track West (270 deg. True), he will have 14 deg. drift, so the pilot heads 284 deg. (True). He then corrects this heading by the local Magnetic Variation to give the Magnetic Heading, which he flies using his compass (or, more usually, his Remote Magnetic Indicator).