Final answer:
To find the horizontal distance from the plane to the airport, we can use trigonometry and the angle of depression of 20 degrees. Using the tangent function, we can find that the horizontal distance is approximately 1455 feet.
Step-by-step explanation:
To find the horizontal distance from the plane to the airport, we can use trigonometry. The angle of depression is the angle between a horizontal line and the line of sight from the plane to the airport. In this case, the angle of depression is 20 degrees.
We can create a right triangle with the height of the plane being the opposite side, the horizontal distance being the adjacent side, and the hypotenuse being the line of sight from the plane to the airport. Using trigonometric functions, we can use the opposite and adjacent sides to calculate the horizontal distance.
Since the opposite side is the height of the plane, and we are given that the height is 500 feet, we can use the tangent function to find the horizontal distance: tan(20°) = opposite/adjacent = 500/adjacent. Rearranging the equation, we have: adjacent = 500/tan(20°). Using a calculator, we find that the horizontal distance is approximately 1455 feet.