Why can headwind assist planes when taking off and landing? Why does tailwind not help with takeoff?
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For planes it doesn’t matter how fast they are going compared to the ground when it comes to when they can lift off/need to land. They only care about how fast the air is moving over the wings when it comes to flying
Let’s say they need to reach 100mph through the air to lift off. If they have a 20mph headwind they only need to gain 80mph before they can lift off. If they have a 20mph tailwind then they need to gain 120mph to lift off.
On landing they care about how much runway they need to land. If they have a 20mph headwind they only need to bleed off 80mph to land. The same wind in the other direction would have to bleed off 120mph. Imagine stopping at 40mph vs 60 mph.
Sometimes the best way to imagine this is extremes. It is possible (and actually midly frequent) for small planes like Cesnas to fly at 0mph. If the wind is as fast or faster than the flight speed then you can fly in one direction while going nowhere or even backwards!
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