Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

> A defence expert has told the BBC that shooting down a plane at 10,000m (9.7 miles)

First off, 10,000m is 6.2 miles, not 9.7 miles.



Perhaps the defence expert was misintrepreted -

If the plane is 6.2 miles on the ground away and flying at 30K feet (5.7 miles), then basic pythagorean geometry says that a missile has to travel sqrt(6.2^2+5.7^2) = 8.4 miles, which is closer to the number they give?


No, 10,000m is the altitude of the plane, i.e. 33,000ft or 6.2 miles.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: