Work out how far I am from my starting point if I fly 80km

Where bearings are given, they are in degrees East of North (so North is 000⁰East is 090⁰ South is 180 and West 270⁰For thepurposes of this exercise, assume the Earth is flat. Work out how far I am from my starting point if I fly 80km South-West from the starting point then fly 120km North-West

Reply 1

randomplant

Draw a diagram showing start point, then flight 80km SW, then flight 120km NW which ends with the end point.
The distance from the start point to the end point is a straight line.
This gives you a triangle and the angle between the SW flight 80km and the NW flight 120km is 90 degrees. You have a right angled triangle with sides 80km, 120km, and longest side x.
Use pythagoras to solve for x. a^2=b^2 + c^2 where a=x , b=80, c=120.
x=144.222.... So x=140 2sf