SOLUTION: Flying against the wind, an airplane travels 8100 km in 9 hours. Flying with the wind, the same plane travels 4960 km in 4 hrs. What is the rate of the plane in still air and what
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Question 1119314: Flying against the wind, an airplane travels 8100 km in 9 hours. Flying with the wind, the same plane travels 4960 km in 4 hrs. What is the rate of the plane in still air and what is the rate of the wind?
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Find the 2 groundspeeds, downwind and upwind.
The plane's airspeed is the average of the 2.
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Windspeed = difference between airspeed and groundspeed.
Distance equals rate times time, and therefore rate equals distance divided by time. The rate of an aircraft flying into the wind is the rate of the aircraft in still air MINUS the wind speed. The rate of an aircraft flying with the wind is the rate of the aircraft in still air PLUS the wind speed.
Distance: 8100 km, Time: 9 hours, Rate:
Distance: 4960 km, Time: 4 hours, Rate:
Solve the 2X2 system for and
If you are careful with your arithmetic, you should get . Since the only way to encounter wind at this sort of speed (105 miles per hour roughly) is to fly into a BIG hurricane. Conclusion: the pilot of your hypothetical aircraft is a suicidal (and possibly homicidal if s/he had any passengers) maniac.
John
My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it
