A plane is flying at an altitude of 12,000m . From the pilot , the angle of depression to the airport tower is 32 degrees. How long is the flight path needed in order for the plane to land ?

Answer 1

Let "f" be the length of the flight path.

Draw a picture:

This is a right triangle. The sin(32°) = opposite/hypotenuse = 12000/f

sin(32°) = 12000/f [multiply both sides by "f" to get:

f•sin(32°) = 12000 [divide both sides by sin(32°) to get:

f = 12000/sin(32°)

Plug this into a calculate to get f = 22,644.95898. We could probably round to the nearest meter to get f = 22,645 m

Answer 2

You want side "c".

side "b"= ?

"a"=12000

angle "β"=58°

"α"=32°

"γ"=90°

a/sinα=b/sinβ=c; sinγ=1 in a right triangle.

12000/sin32=22,645m.......m

Just to let you know: b/sin58=22,645=b/.848; b=19,204m.