Two planes take off from OR Tambo Airport shortly after each other. The one flies to Durban and the other flies to Cape Town. The one flying to Durban maintains an average speed of 700 km/h for the 550-km route, while the Cape Town flight maintains 750 km/h for its 1 450-km flight. The direction from OR Tambo to Durban is 57° south of east, while the direction from OR Tambo to Cape Town is 43º south of west.

Question

Calculate the flight time for each of the flights.

Answer 1

To find the flight time for each of the flights, we first need to calculate the distances they need to travel.

For the flight from OR Tambo to Durban:
Distance = 550 km
Speed = 700 km/h
Time = Distance / Speed
Time = 550 km / 700 km/h
Time = 0.7857 hours

For the flight from OR Tambo to Cape Town:
Distance = 1450 km
Speed = 750 km/h
Time = Distance / Speed
Time = 1450 km / 750 km/h
Time = 1.933 hours

Convert the time into minutes:
0.7857 hours x 60 = 47.14 minutes
1.933 hours x 60 = 116 minutes

So, the flight time for the flight to Durban is approximately 47 minutes and the flight time for the flight to Cape Town is approximately 116 minutes.

Answer 2

Notice that it has nothing to do with the directions. This is a purely scalar problem as stated. Of course if you asked how far apart the cities are based on the given data, you would have a vector problem.

Answer 3

You are correct. The flight times for each of the flights are solely dependent on the distances to be traveled and the speeds of the planes, and are not influenced by the directions in which the planes are flying. Thank you for pointing that out.