Answer:
The line of sight distance is 1285.58 feet.
Step-by-step explanation:
The situation is illustrated in the figure attached.
From the figure we see that the altitude difference of the planes and the distance between them form a right triangle with one angle of 40° .
The line of sight between the two planes is the hypotenuse of the triangle.
The altitude difference of the planes is
[tex]26,000ft -24,000ft = 2000 ft.[/tex]
Therefore, if we call [tex]x[/tex] the line of sight distance, from trigonometry we have
[tex]$ sin (40^0) = \frac{2000ft}{x} $[/tex]
[tex]\boxed{ x = 1285.58ft}[/tex]
Therefore, the line of sight distance (x) is 1285.58 feet.