Question

A glider pilot flying at an altitude of 800 meters spots the airfield at an angle of depression of 12º. How far will thepilot fly to get to the airfield? Round to 2 decimal places.

Answer 1

3763.70 meters.

Explanation:

The situation is sketched below:

The distance to the airfield is called x.

From trigonometry, we know that

`\tan 12=(800m)/(x)`

multiplying both sides by x gives

`x\tan 12=800`

dividing both sides by tan 12 gives

`x=(800)/(\tan 12)`
`\therefore x=3763.70m\text{.}`

Hence, the pilot must fly 3763.70 meters to get to the airfield.