Thread: trigonometry word problem

When an airplane leaves the runway, its angle of climb is 20° and its speed is 335 feet per second. How long will it take the plane to climb to an altitude of 10,000 feet? 16,000 feet?

Here is how I am thinking about it:

335 * 60 = 20100

then 10,000 / 335 = 29.85 seconds.

I am not sure if this is right but it is a guess. Could some one help me.

You need to use the vertical component of the plane's velocity, which is feet per second, to calculate the time taken to reach a certain altitude.

vertical rate of climb is ft/sec

now calculate time to climb ...

Originally Posted by robasc

When an airplane leaves the runway, its angle of climb is 20° and its speed is 335 feet per second. How long will it take the plane to climb to an altitude of 10,000 feet? 16,000 feet?

Here is how I am thinking about it:

335 * 60 = 20100

then 10,000 / 335 = 29.85 seconds.

I am not sure if this is right but it is a guess. Could some one help me.

I looked at it this way.

should yield the height in feet after 1 second.

That's ft. in 1 sec.

Now, for 10000 feet, that'd be

Edit: Too slow on the post today!