After leaving a runway a planes angle of ascent is 15 degrees and its speed is 265 feet per second. How many minutes will it take for the airplane to climb to a height of 11,000 feet?

3 answers

let the time taken be t minutes

velocity = 265 ft/sec = 15900 ft/min
distance traveled along the hypotenuse
= 15900t ft

Did you make a sketch of the right-angled triangle?

I see it as ...
sin 15° = 11000/15900t
15900t = 11000/sin15
t = 110/(159sin15) = 2.69 minutes
distance flown is

d/11000 = csc 15°
so, time needed is d/265 seconds
Thanks so much!