Question

What is the planes ground distance to the airport (picture provided)

Answer 1

d. ≈ 37,106 ft

Explanation:

The angle of depression to the plane to the airport is the same as the angle of elevation from the airport to the plane. Therefore, the angle of elevation form the airport to the plane is 6°.

Notice that the height of the plane is the opposite side of the angle of elevation and the ground distance is the adjacent side of the angle of elevation. To find ground distance we need to use a trig function to relate the opposite side and the adjacent side; that trig function is tangent:

`tan(\alpha )=(opposite-side)/(adjacent-side)`

`tan(6)=(3900ft)/(ground-distance)`

`ground-distance=(3900ft)/(tan(6))`

`ground-distance=37106ft`

We can conclude that the plane's ground distance to the airport is approximately 37,106 feet