Question

What angle of descent ( depression) should the pilot use to safely bring the plane to the airport runway? The plane is 10,000 feet above the ground and is a little more than 30 miles ( approximately 160,000 feet) from the airport. Write an equation and show work . Round the angle measure to the nearest whole degree. ( Picture is not drawn to scale )

Answer 1

4 degrees ( to nearest degree).

Explanation:

The trig ratio you want is the tangent.

tan x = 10,000 / 160,000 where x is the angle of depression.

tan x = 0.0625

x = 3.576 degrees.