A passenger in an airplane flying at an alti-

Question

tude of 14 kilometers sees two towns directly
to the left of the plane. The angles of depres-
sion to the towns are 30◦ and 52◦.
How far apart are the towns?
Answer in units of ft.

Answer 1

Angle of depression is not enough, what azimuth bearings are they at? Maybe you mean at the same bearing...

draw the figure, let x be the distance apart, h the height of plane, a the distance from the close town to just below airplane.

h/a=tan52
h/(x+a)=tan30

You know h.

first equation, solve for a.
Put that in the second equation, solve for x.