A plane flying the 3458 mile trip from NYC to London has a 50mph tailwind. If the speed of the plane in still air is 360mph, how far is NYC from the point of no return?

Question

A plane flying the 3458 mile trip from NYC to London has a 50mph tailwind. The flights point of no return is the point at which the flight time required to return to NYC is the same as the time required to continue to London. If the speed of the plane in still air is 360mph, how far is NYC from the point of no return?

Answer 1

Combined plane and tailwind speed=360+50=410.

Combined plane and headwind speed=360-50=310.

If x miles from NYC is the point of no return, time to continue to London is (3458-x)/410.

Time to head back to NYC is x/310.

These times are equal so (3458-x)/410=x/310, so cross-multiplying we get:

310(3458-x)=410x which makes x=31×3458/72=1488.86 miles approx.