Question

An airplane is flying at an altitude of 10,000 ft. The airport at which it is scheduled to land is 50 miles away. Find the average angle at which the airplane must descend for landing. Round your answer to the nearest degree.

Answer 1

Answer:

The average angle at which the airplane must descend for landing is 21°

Step-by-step explanation:

Here, we have question related to angle of elevation and depression

The height of the airplane be, y = 10,000 ft

The Location of the airport is, x  =  50 miles = ‪26400 ‬ft

Therefore,

we have,

Let the average angle be θ

Therefore,

$tan \theta = \frac{y}{x} = \frac{Opposite}{Adjacent}$

The opposite to the angle of descent is the height and the adjacent is the distance of the airport away from the airplane

Therefore, tan θ = $\frac{10000}{26400} = 0.379$

Therefore, the average angle θ = tan⁻¹ 0.379 = 20.746 ° ≈ 21°.