Vector airplane flying with a side wind

[calc3varbrg9e]

Homework Statement

An airplane has an airspeed of 145 km/h. it is to make a flight in a direction of 72 degees while there is a 32-km/h wind from 342 degrees. what will the airplane's actual heading be?

Homework Equations

trig functions

The Attempt at a Solution

this is a calc3 class using the varberg 9th edition textbook and the class uses an online program called math lab which is provided by the textbook and therefore all the online material directly relates to the text... So I am on chapter 11 dealing with vectors... Specifically 3D vectors... however this appears to be a 2D problem... i missed a problem similar to this on my online quiz... so i went to the online practice problems and found this problem... and i clicked the "help me solve this" button which takes you step by step to the solution... At this point i could see where i made mistakes in solving the quiz problem, but i don't understand why i was wrong so my first question is... They draw the plane flying 72 degrees from north in a NE direction... Why? why is it not 72 degrees from East? like you would do any other unit circle type problem?

 

[calc3varbrg9e]

aww... a little research and i found the answer...

In navigation, a vehicle's course or heading is the angle that the intended path of the vehicle makes with a fixed reference object (typically true north). Typically course is measured in degrees from 0° clockwise to 360°

Wind direction is reported by the direction from which it originates. For example, a northerly wind blows from the north to the south. Wind direction is usually reported in cardinal directions or in azimuth degrees. So, for example, a wind coming from the south is given as 180 degrees; one from the east is 90 degrees. So basically it is just like course or heading starting typically at true north and typically measured in degrees from 0° clockwise to 360.°