Homework: Vectors (Section 8.4)

Question

An airplane needs to head due north, but there is a wind blowing from the southwest at 60 km/hr. The plane flies at an airspeed of 600 km/hr,

To end up due north, the pilot will need to fly the plane= answer? degrees west of north

Answer 1

The wind is moving the airplane 60cos(45) kph to the East and so the airplane must fly both North and West at the same time to compensate. The amount west is 600cos(phi) and must = 60cos(45) ... Phi = acos(.0707)=4.05 degrees west of north.