Pilotage Moto

Aviation Riddle?

Engine failure forced gerald to pilot his Cessna 150 to an emergency landing. To land, gerald’s plane glided to 17,000 ft over a 15,000-ft stretch of deserted highway. From what altitude did the descent begin?

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Tags: Altitude, Aviation, Cessna 150, Engine Failure, Riddle

4 Responses to “Aviation Riddle?”

hondo says:

February 6, 2010 at 1:08 am

8,000ft;(using pythagoras’ theorem.

sushant says:

February 6, 2010 at 5:48 am

Pythagoras theorem all the way

D^2= (17000)^2 - (15000)^2

=>D^2=64000000

=>D=8000 ft

Drummer By Day says:

February 8, 2010 at 5:55 am

Pythagoras theorem:

The hypotenuse is always C. A and B can be either.

C^2=A^2+B^2 which is equal to
A^2=C^2-A^2

A^2= C^2-A^2
A^2=(17000)^2 - (15000)^2
A^2=64000000
A =Square Root(64000000)
A =8000 ft

tinkertailorcandlestickmaker says:

February 11, 2010 at 10:48 am

I guess I can’t really disagree with all the other answers, but I think the question could be worded better. If the “to” before 17,00 ft. were removed, it would make more sense,. As it written one could interpret it to mean, “after gliding over a 15,000-ft stretch of deserted highway, the plane was at 17,000 altitude (and Gerald was preparing to land sometime in the next half hour)” in which case one would need to know the glide angle, which is not given, but 10:1 might be a fairly reasonable estimate, giving an initial altitude of about 18,500 ft (a bit high for a 150 with a service ceiling of 15,300ft)

Pilotage Moto

Aviation Riddle?

4 Responses to “Aviation Riddle?”

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