Solve Plane Problem: Find Time & Distance for Dropping Supply Crate

[leftyguitarjo]

Homework Statement

An airplane is traveling at 125km/h at an altitude of 1001m. It is dropping a supply crate on a specified target. Air resistance is ignored.

a.)How many seconds before being directly overhead should the box be dropped to hit the target?

b.)What is the horizontal distance between the plane and the target when the box should be dropped?

Homework Equations

velociy in the X direction=x/t

The Attempt at a Solution

I converted the speed into m/s, which came out to be 34.7m/s, which gave me my two unknowns: 34.7=x/t

I decided to find the time in the y (vertical) direction first, using simply 9.8t=1001. t=102.14 seconds. Since the X and Y direction times are the same, I plugged in the time into 34.7=x/t and solved for x an got 3544.26m

And to clarify my answers a.) 102.14 seconds, b.) 3544.26m

I just want to make sure I followed the correct procedure when solving this problem

 

[Doc Al]

I decided to find the time in the y (vertical) direction first, using simply 9.8t=1001.

You are saying that y = gt? That's incorrect. (Perhaps you're mixing it up with v = gt.) Find the correct expression for distance as a function of time for a falling body.