Question

A plane is descending at a 12° angle of depression. If the current altitude of the plane is 1,000 feet, find the distance the plane still needs to fly to reach the ground. Round the answer to the nearest foot.(1 point)
blank feet

Answer 1

Let the descent path be the hypotenuse h of a right triangle with vertical leg 1000 ft and angle of depression 12°. Then sin(12°) = 1000/h, so h = 1000 / sin(12°).

Compute: h ≈ 1000 / 0.2079117 ≈ 4807.92 ft.

Rounded to the nearest foot: 4808 feet.