When gliding at an angle of attack of 10 degrees, how much altitude will an airplane lose in 1 mile?

To determine the altitude loss of an airplane gliding at an angle of attack of 10 degrees over a distance of one mile, it’s important to understand the relationship between glide angle and altitude loss.

When an aircraft glides at a specific angle of attack, it creates a glide ratio that relates to how far it travels horizontally compared to the height it descends. For a typical glide angle of 10 degrees, the glide ratio can be approximated mathematically.

At an angle of attack of 10 degrees, the glide slope or glide angle is such that for every mile traveled horizontally, the airplane loses a specific amount of altitude. A 10-degree glide path typically results in a descent of about 480 feet per mile. This is derived from the tangent of the glide angle, where the altitude lost per mile can be calculated as:

• Height loss = Distance x tan(glide angle).

For 10 degrees, the tangent is approximately 0.1763, so:

1 mile (which is 5280 feet) multiplied by 0.1763 yields about 480 feet lost in altitude.

Thus, when referring to the altitude loss for the airplane gliding at 10 degrees, the answer of 480 feet is indeed the correct