Question

With a certain tail wind a jet aircraft arrives at its destination, 1,890 miles away, in 3 hours. Flying against the same wind, the plane makes the return trip in 3 3/8 hours. Find the wind speed and the plane's airspeed.

Answer 1

You have two unknowns: the plane's airspeed and the wind speed. Call them p and w respectively; note that both speeds are measured in miles per hour.
Note that the distance GOING is the same as the distance RETURNING: \[d _{g}=d _{r}\]

Answer 2

The wind speed is 35 mph; the plane's airspeed is 595 mph.