Top Secret Mission: Codename Area 51
Objective: Accomplish mission at all costs without jeopardizing national security.
Statement of Intent: In accepting this mission, you need to raise your right hand and repeat the
following to your recruiter.
“I solemnly swear to accomplish this mission to the best of my ability and promise to NEVER
share mission specifics with anyone other than my co-pilot.”
Mission Information: The United States government, to carry out a top-secret mission of
extreme sensitivity, has recruited you and your co-pilot. An approaching alien spacecraft has
been tracked by NORAD from several parsecs outside our solar system and has crashed in the
middle of the desert of North America. A top secret government agency has already been
dispersed to the site and requires that a C-130 transport airplane pick up some alien cargo and two
living aliens, deliver them to AREA 51, and report the mission log to NORAD.
Due to the highly sensitive nature of this mission, the plane must travel under 1000 ft. in order to
avoid being detected by radar. Therefore the plane must travel around mountainous regions.
Due to aircraft constraints and lack of adequate landing facilities, this mission will not have any
opportunity for refueling. The plane has a fuel capacity of 1,200 liters (317 US gallons) and has a
fuel economy of 4.5 km/liter. (i.e., it uses 1 liter of fuel every 4.5 kilometers of flight)
Flight Plan: It is critical that you and your copilot develop a suitable flight plan that will allow
you to accomplish the mission agenda (on the next page) and have enough fuel left over to get
back to the airport. However, there is a massive thunderstorm centered on location (5, 25) with a
radius of 400 km. This storm is very dangerous and you must navigate around it or your plane
will crash.
IN PENCIL develop the flight plan on the map using displacement vectors. Every change in
direction must be at a grid intersection on the map. At each change in direction, start a new
displacement vector. Remember, a vector is represented as a straight arrow. When you are
satisfied with the flight plan, number all of the displacement vectors in consecutive order, i.e
vector 1, vector 2, vector 3, etc…..
Vector 2
Vector 3
Etc.
Vector 1
Mission Agenda: The following is a checklist of tasks that need to be accomplished on this
mission.
 Leave Norbert International Airport (located at (0,0) on the special map provided) in the
airplane and proceed to the crash site. The crash site is located at (-900km, -900km) on the
map. At the crash site, your plane will hover in place using the newly developed Bernoulli
anti-gravity hovering device. The tow cable will latch onto a specially prepared cargo crate
containing the alien materials.
 Proceed from the crash site to the secret base called AREA 51 located at (-400km, 500km) to
deliver the alien cargo via cable and crate.
 Proceed from AREA 51 to the underground military installation NORAD which is located at
(700km, 600km) on the map. Due to the mountains near NORAD, the plane needs to pass
directly over that location and download the mission information by using a prototype “laser
communication instrument” in your cockpit.
 Proceed from NORAD back to Norbert International Airport to land the plane and debrief
with special NSA agents.
Review of the Flight Plan: The NSA agents at Norbert International Airport need to ask you and
your pilot to elaborate on the following issues before your allowed to leave on your mission.
1. Complete the following table. For each displacement vector, report the magnitude and
direction
Vector Number
(Example)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Displacement Vector Magnitude (km)
400km
Displacement Vector Direction
35 degrees North of West
2. According to your flight plan, what is the required total distance traveled by the airplane in
kilometers?
_______ km
3. What land area, in km2, is affected by the severe-thunderstorm system?
________ km2
4. Given the fuel load of 1,200 liters, and the planes fuel economy of 4.5 kilometer/liter, how
far can your plane go before running out of fuel?
________ km
5. Obviously, if the plane runs out of fuel, the plane would crash and the mission would not
be a success. Will your flight plan allow for a successful mission? Yes or No (circle one)
6. Assuming that your airplane has an average speed of 300 km/hr, determine how long it
will take for the mission (if successful) according to your flight plan.
________hours
7. Revisit the table above and restate here the magnitude and direction of displacement vector
number 6.
____________ km, _______degrees _____ of _____
Assuming that when your plane begins vector 6 it would be going 280 km/hr and would
finish at 320 km/hr at the end of the vector, determine the average acceleration that the
plane would need and the time interval for this motion. Use a kinematics table and show
your work.
a = ______ km/hr2
t = _______ hr
8. Determine the difference between the distance that your flight plan calls for and the
distance that the plane can actually go. (see numbers 2 and 4 above). Starting at the
airport and using the scale on the map, locate where your plane will crash. Mark this
location with an X. Measure the magnitude and direction of the overall displacement that
the plane will have from the origin and state it here.
___________ km, ________ degrees_____ of ______
9. Using your answer to number 4 above and knowing that the plane has an average speed of
300 km/hr, determine the actual time of flight before the plane will crash.
_______ hours
10. Using your answers to questions 8 and 9, determine the average velocity of the airplane
from the moment it takes off to the moment it crashed (whole trip)
v = ___________ km/hr, _______degrees _____ of _____
CONCLUSIONS: State below what you have learned about motion when an object moves in a
NON LINEAR fashion. Be sure to discuss how speed and velocity are different, how
instantaneous motion is different from average motion, etc….