Question

A plane traveled 2464 miles to San Francisco from Boston. With the wind to San Francisco, it took 14 hours. Into the wind from San Francisco, back to Boston, the same trip took 16 hours. How fast is the plane traveling when there is no wind? What is the wind speed?

Answer 1

Step-by-step answer:

Given:

Distance = 2464 miles

downwind time = 14 hours

upwind time  = 16 hours

Solution:

downwind speed  = 2464 / 14 = 176 mph

upwind speed = 2464 / 16 = 154 mph

Average speed = still air speed

= (176+154)/2

= 330/2

= 165 mph

Time required

= 2464 / 165

= 14.933 hours

= 14 hours 56 minutes.