Drift angle is defined as the angle between which two directions?

• A. True north and magnetic north.
• B. Heading and track.
• C. Altitude and airspeed.
• D. Wind direction and heading.

Answer: (B)

Drift angle is the angle between the direction the airplane’s nose is pointing (heading) and the direction the airplane is actually moving over the ground (track). Wind across the flight path pushes the aircraft sideways, so the ground track can differ from the nose direction, creating the drift angle. If there’s no crosswind, heading and track align and the drift angle is zero. The other options describe different concepts (variation between true and magnetic north, altitude vs speed, or wind direction vs heading) and don’t define drift angle.