Question 311140: A plane flies 900 miles with a tail wind in 3 hours. It rakes the same plane 4 hours to fly the 900 miles flying against the tail wind. What is the planes speed in still air?
Answer by Alan3354(69443)   (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! A plane flies 900 miles with a tail wind in 3 hours. It rakes the same plane 4 hours to fly the 900 miles flying against the tail wind. What is the planes speed in still air?
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A tailwind is wind going the same direction as the plane, sometimes called "flying with the wind." You don't fly against a tailwind.
Flying into the wind is called a headwind, of flying against the wind (as Bob Seger mentioned).
Also, the "plane's speed is still air" is called airspeed.
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900/3 = 300 mph
900/4 = 225 mph
The airspeed is the average, (300 + 225)/2 = 262.5 mph
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The wind speed is the difference, = 300 - 262.5 = 37.5 mph (it wasn't asked for)
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BTW, planes use knots for speed, not miles per hour.
People writing books should stick to what they know, if they know anything.
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