Heading straight toward the summit of Pike’s Peak, an airplane of mass 12 000 kg flies over the plains of Kansas at nearly constant altitude 4.30 km, with a constant velocity of 175 m/s west?
(a) What is the airplane’s vector angular momentum relative to a wheat farmer on the ground directly below the airplane?
(b) Does this value change as the airplane continues its motion along a straight line?
(c) What If? What is its angular momentum relative to the summit of Pike’s Peak?