At a 1-degree descent angle, how many feet do you descend per mile traveled?

At a 1-degree descent angle, how many feet do you descend per mile traveled?

• A. 50 feet
• B. 100 feet
• C. 150 feet
• D. 200 feet

Answer: (B)

The main idea is that the vertical drop for a given travel distance follows the tangent of the descent angle. For a 1-degree descent, tan(1°) is about 0.01745. If you travel one mile, which is 5,280 feet, the drop ≈ 5,280 × 0.01745 ≈ 92 feet. In practice, pilots use a handy rule of thumb: about 100 feet of descent for each mile traveled on a shallow, 1-degree path. So the closest and most convenient answer is 100 feet per mile. (If you think in nautical miles, it’s a similar ballpark, around 106 feet per nautical mile, still rounding to about 100 feet.)

The main idea is that the vertical drop for a given travel distance follows the tangent of the descent angle. For a 1-degree descent, tan(1°) is about 0.01745. If you travel one mile, which is 5,280 feet, the drop ≈ 5,280 × 0.01745 ≈ 92 feet. In practice, pilots use a handy rule of thumb: about 100 feet of descent for each mile traveled on a shallow, 1-degree path. So the closest and most convenient answer is 100 feet per mile. (If you think in nautical miles, it’s a similar ballpark, around 106 feet per nautical mile, still rounding to about 100 feet.)