Question

An air traffic controller locates an airplane on her radar display. The plane is moving in a diagonal directionAccording to the radar, the plane moves 5 miles east and 1 mile north over the course of a minute. There are noother planes to the north of the plane on the controller display, but there is an airport to the east of t. The airtraffic controller is not concerned with the plane's northeriy velocity, but she quicy calculates the plane'seasterty velocity. What does she find the easterty velocity of the airplane to be? Please answer in miles perhour.

Answer 1

The plane moves 5 miles east over the course of a minute. Then, the easterly velocity is:

$\begin{gathered} \text{velocity}=\frac{\text{distance}}{\text{time}} \\ \text{velocity}=\frac{\text{5 miles}}{\text{1 minute}} \\ \text{velocity}=5\frac{\text{miles}}{\text{minute}} \end{gathered}$

60 minutes is equivalent to 1 hour, then

$5\frac{\text{miles}}{\text{minute}}\cdot\frac{60\text{ minutes}}{hour}=300\text{ mph}$