A news helicopter 60 meters above the road spotted two accidents. The angles of depression are 10.2° and 8.7°. How are apart are the accidents? (The accidents are in the same general direction from the helicopter.) please help. i'm not sure what i am doing wrong!

Answer 1

the ground and the height of the helicopter form two sides of a right triangle
a line from the copter to the accident forms the hypotenuse

the angle between the vertical and the hypotenuse is ... (90º - 10.2º) for one accident
... and (90º - 8.7º) for the other

the distance to the farther accident is
... 60 m * tan(90º - 8.7º)

to the nearer one is
... 60 m * tan(90º - 10.2º)