Question

A pilot is flying from DFW to NYC. The air traffic controller directs him to fly 69° Northeast at 243 m/s. What is the y component of his velocity?

Answer 1

Answer:

$v_{y} = 227$ m/s

Explanation:

Assumptions: 0° is true North, and 90° is east (along the x-axis).

To solve this problem we must use the expression:

$v_{y} = v_{0}sin(\theta)$

Where $v_{y}$ is the velocity in the y-direction (East), $v_{0}$ is the total velocity in the direction which the aircraft is travelling, and $\theta$ is the direction the aircraft is travelling (angle from the y-axis).

Using the equation above, we obtain the y-component of velocity

$v_{y} = (243)sin(69) = 226.86...$ m/s which is rounded to 227 m/s (due to the number of significant figures in the question).