On 13/08/2013 21:50, Jim White wrote:

The only truths I see about the IGC rules (95% of the world) and the US
rules (5% of the world) a

Guys, we love you to bits but this does look like a bit of a recurring
theme to us in the rest of the world. Maybe the US self belief that the US
knows best is what drives you to success but to many in the wider world it
looks a bit daft.

World IGC Rules - US different
World Metric - US Imperial
In particular for commerical aviation:
World Tonnes - US Pounds
World HPa - US Inches of Mercury

A lecture on the evils of exceptionalism from someone with an address in
the UK shows either immense chutzpah or complete ignorance (well, it is,
after all, the UK).

The reasons for differences in commercial aviation are mainly because
the US effectively invented it and is still the largest single part of
it but Europe (including its UK satellite) sulkily refuses to recognise
this historical fact. While picking up on altimeter sub-scales, he
ignores the actual face of the instrument which the UK also calibrates
in feet while the "World" does it in metres.

While mentioning lbs as a US pecadillo (which was still how the UK
measured most aircraft weights last time I was there), he ignores the
face of UK ASIs still stubbornly calibrated in knots. He also ignores
the UK use of nautical miles on DMEs rather than km.

Finally, I'm surprised he doesn't note the interesting fact that in the
UK it's only legal to sell wine in metric glasses (tiny by world
standards, but metrically tiny - 125ml, 175ml, etc!) but beer has to be
sold in pints or fractions of a pint. Who's running their own private
race there!

I'll leave out the typically smug UK politics but just mention that only
the UK could see the way English words are spelt by themselves as
"World". Guess what spellings are used in teaching English in China?

GC


Then there is:
World Colour/Favour/Labour - US Color/Favor/Labor
World Government Transparancy - US Gov Secrecy
World Whistle blower hero - US Traitor
World Left leaning liberalism - US Right wing imperialism, I am joking but
to many it looks just like that, more war war than jaw jaw.

Believe me, there is a big wide world out there, that has many varied
cultures and customs, and that is learning how to work together in many
ways for the common good.

You do not need to stand apart or 'lead' all the time, it would be good if
the US sometimes decided to join in. Go on, you can do it!