Turn on the radio in the Cessna 172 and look at your air chart for your departure and arrival airports. Find the frequency of any weather and wind broadcasts next to the airport icons. Turn the radio dial to these frequencies and get the updated airport wind report.
Listen for the direction the wind is coming from and the speed, given in knots. The Cessna 172's range of safe operations with crosswinds is 40 knots.
Make your safe-wind calculations based on the safe crosswind maximum for the aircraft and the reported wind speeds for the airstrips for your trip. Do not attempt to take off or land should the crosswinds be higher than the Cessna 172 maximum allowed speed of 40 knots. Find an alternative airport to land at should you already be airborne.
Enter the flight crosswind information into the E6B flight computer along with the maximum allowed crosswind for the aircraft. Calculate the rate of speed for your landing -- in the Cessna 172's case, 65 knots -- and enter that into the E6B. For example, if the cross winds are reported at 35 knots and you need to approach at 65 knots, enter these figures in the E6B to get the actual wind speed that will affect the aircraft.
