What does a descent rate of 5 NM/min correspond to in terms of feet?

To determine how a descent rate of 5 nautical miles per minute translates into feet per minute, it's essential to understand the conversion between nautical miles and feet.

One nautical mile is equivalent to 6,076.1 feet. Therefore, to find out how many feet correspond to 5 nautical miles, you multiply the number of nautical miles by the number of feet in a nautical mile:

5 NM * 6,076.1 feet/NM = 30,380.5 feet.

Since this calculation gives the total descent per minute in feet, we note that there are 60 minutes in an hour. So, to find the descent rate in feet per minute, we divide the total feet descended in one minute by the time component, which is already 1 minute in this case:

• The descent rate is already represented as feet per minute.

Consequently, each nautical mile translates into about 1,000 feet of descent per minute. Therefore, 5 nautical miles per minute roughly equals a descent rate of 1,000 feet per minute when simplified and rounded appropriately. This makes the answer correspond directly to a descent rate of 5 nautical miles equating to 1,000 feet per minute.