Bill Daniels wrote:
...
But that damn metric altimeter was impossible - no way to
read trends on an instrument that insensitive. With an altimeter that reads
1000 feet (304.8 meters) per rev of the big hand, you can thermal by
watching the trend of the needle.
...

This is why I like to fly the few gliders in my club where both type of
altimeters (meter and feet) are installed. By the way, as a quick way
to make the difference between them we call the second one an "altipied",
which could be transtalted as "altifeet". So I look on the metric instrument
when I have anything to think about glide ratios, as vertical an horizontal
distances are so in the same units (and this instrument is set at QFE) and
on the other one for anything about airspace (set at QNH or flight level)
or when I need self encouragement during climb, as the rotation of the
needle is perceptible at a glance when the climbing speed is good.