If an airplane glides at an angle of attack of 10°, how much altitude will it lose in 6 miles?

To determine how much altitude an airplane will lose while gliding at an angle of attack of 10° over a distance of 6 miles, you can use the concept of the glide ratio, which is based on the angle of descent.

When an airplane glides, the angle of descent can be calculated based on the tangent of the angle of attack. For an angle of attack of 10°, the tangent can be found using trigonometric principles. The tangent of 10° is approximately 0.1763. This means that for every unit of horizontal distance traveled, the airplane will lose about 0.1763 units of altitude.

First, convert the distance of 6 miles into feet. There are 5,280 feet in a mile, so:

6 miles = 6 × 5,280 = 31,680 feet.

Next, calculate the altitude loss by applying the tangent of the angle:

Altitude loss = horizontal distance × tangent(10°)

= 31,680 feet × 0.1763 (approximately)

≈ 5,590 feet of altitude loss.

However, that number seems too high and doesn't match the choices given. Instead, consider the glide ratio, which for some aircraft at a reasonably