SOLUTION: Earth has a radius of 6371 kilometers. A pilot is flying at a steady altitude of 5.6 kilometers above the earth's surface. What is the pilot's distance to the horizon?

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Question 1102273: Earth has a radius of 6371 kilometers. A pilot is flying at a steady altitude of 5.6 kilometers above the earth's surface.
What is the pilot's distance to the horizon?
Answer by ikleyn(52781) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
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The pilot's distance to the horizon is a leg of the right angled triangle, whose hypotenuse is  (6371+6) = 6377 kilometers,


and the other leg is exactly the Earth radius of  6371 kilometers.


So, the answer is  sqrt%286377%5E2+-+6371%5E2%29 = 276.5 kilometers.