Lesson 5

Connect

 

Going Beyond

 

 

The goal of a military jet pilot is to snag the tailhook (the hook on the bottom of the plane) on the third of four wires on an aircraft carrier landing deck. To do this requires precision in approaching the landing deck at the correct angle. This angle is communicated to the pilot by coloured lights on the Optical Landing System. The goal is to see an amber light (called the “meatball”) in line with a string of green lights. Suppose a pilot is coming in for a landing with the lights lined up correctly. The jet is 335 m away from the edge of the landing deck and 17.5 m above the deck of the aircraft carrier (vertical distance). The information is summarized in the following diagram.

 

1. Determine how far horizontally, d, the plane is from the aircraft carrier. Round to the nearest metre.
   
   
2. In addition to coming in on the right angle vertically, the plane also must line up horizontally (to the left and right) so that it can snag the wire efficiently. This is also communicated to the pilots through lights. Suppose the pilot sees a slow, flashing red light indicating that he or she is 4° to the right of centre. How many metres to the right is the plane off centre (find side f )? Round to the nearest metre.

 

Project Connection

 

You are now ready to complete Part C: At Work—Trigonometry of the Module 4 Project.

 

Remember to save all your work to your course folder to submit at the end of the module.

 

Lesson 5 Assignment