A plane flies at 350 mph in the direction 40 degrees north of east, with a wind blowing at 40 mph in the direction 30 degrees south of east. What is the plane’s drift angle?

Resolve the plane’s velocity and the wind into east and north components. The plane contributes about 267.85 mph east and 224.98 mph north; the wind adds 34.64 mph east and subtracts 20 mph north. The combined direction is arctan(204.98 ÷ 302.49) ≈ 34.1° north of east, which is about 5.90° south of the plane’s intended 40° direction. So the drift angle is 5.90 degrees, choice A.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.