Question

The glide slope is the path a plane uses while it is landing on a runway. The glide slope usually makes a 3º angle with the ground. A plane is on the glide slope and is 1 mile (5280 feet) from touchdown. Use the tangent ratio and a calculator to find EF (the altitude of the plane) to the nearest foot. The plane is ____ feet high

Answer 1

To be able to find the altitude of the plane, we use one trigonometric function in this case the best function to use is the tangent. It is expressed as:

tan (theta) = opposite side length / adjacent side length
tan 3 = altitude of the plane / 5280 ft
altitude of the plane = 276.71 ft

Hope this answers the question. Have a nice day.