You are piloting a small plane, and you want to reach an airport 450 km due south in 3.0 hours. A wind is blowing from the west at 20 km/h. What heading and airspeed should you choose to reach...
You are piloting a small plane, and you want to reach an airport 450 km due south in 3.0 hours. A wind is blowing from the west at 20 km/h.
What heading and airspeed should you choose to reach your destination in time?
______km/h
_______degrees(west of South)
1 Answer
The pilot has to reach an airport due south that is 450 km away in 3 hours. There is a wind blowing from the west at 20 km/h.
The net velocity of the plane should be 150 km/h towards the south.
To cancel the velocity of the wind, the pilot should maintain the velocity of the plane at a speed of sqrt(150^2 + 20^2) = sqrt(22900) = 151.327 km/h.
The direction of the plane should be arc tan(20/150) = 7.59 degrees west of south.
The plane should be flown at 151.327 km/h in a direction 7.59 degrees west of south.