SOLUTION: a plane is flying at 174 miles per hour with a heading of 50.5 degrees from due north. the wind is blowing a constant 23 miles per hour at 140.5 degrees from due north. find the gr

Question 270967: a plane is flying at 174 miles per hour with a heading of 50.5 degrees from due north. the wind is blowing a constant 23 miles per hour at 140.5 degrees from due north. find the ground speed and true course of the plane.
Answer by Alan3354(69443) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Is the plane flying a heading of 50.5�? If it's 50.5 "from due north", it could be 309.5�
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Wind direction in aviation is the direction the wind is coming from.
Is this wind from 140.5�?
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The people writing textbooks should stick to subjects they know. Headings are given to the whole degree, no 50.5 degs
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I'll solve this, using that plane heading of 50.5, and the wind direction of 140.5 (coming from 140.5).
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Notice they're 90� apart, so it's a right triangle with sides of 174 and 23.
The resultang groundspeed is the hypotenuse:

g = 175.5 mph
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The angle between the plane's heading and it course is the arctan(23/174)
=~ 7.53�
If the wind direction uses from, that makes the ground track 43�
If the wind direction uses to, it's 58�
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PS miles per hour is not used in aviation, it's knots.
It would be the "wind is 140 at 20 knots"

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