Altimeter settings: QNH versus QFE

Funny to get exactly the reactions one could foresee. OK, I admit I
don't have much hope of getting the ISU units accepted in aviation, but
the "nautical mile/minute of latitude" story has been dealt with long
ago, shortly after the French Revolution. There still are French (I'm
Belgian, please don't mix us up) survey maps with longitude and
latitude in grades, not degrees (400 grades = 360 degrees). You then
have: 1 hundredth of a grade = 1 kilometre (UK) / kilometer (USA). Just
as efficient (or inefficient), and decimal, but it hasn’t been able to
replace the 360 degree system, not even in the ISU. Oh, by the way,
this geodetic system uses the Paris meridian as zero, not the Greenwich
one.
why have horizontal speed in km/h and vertical speed in meters/sec? To
me, this is odd. If the units were the same, you could simply divide
one into the other and get the L/D
Odd, yes, but I’m not really in favour of calculating the L/D by
dividing indicated speed by sink anyhow: the value will vary wildly in
a relatively short time, and wind can play havoc with this kind of
calculation.


--
stephanevdv
------------------------------------------------------------------------
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stephanevdv wrote:

Just
as efficient (or inefficient), and decimal, but it hasn’t been able to
replace the 360 degree system,

Just to add confusion to the discussion: The decimal system has been
about the dumbest idea which has happened to mankind. The phoenicians
got it right by using the duodecimal system (actually, they used even
the 60-system), which is much more suited for most real life situations.
But some dimmer folks replaced it by the decimal system, because they
couldn't do the math without using their fingers. So I fear we have to
live with that.

Stefan

'duodecimal system' -- We use that all the time in libraries in the
USA.

Larry

"Stefan" wrote in message
:

stephanevdv wrote:

Just
as efficient (or inefficient), and decimal, but it hasn't been able to
replace the 360 degree system,

Just to add confusion to the discussion: The decimal system has been
about the dumbest idea which has happened to mankind. The phoenicians
got it right by using the duodecimal system (actually, they used even
the 60-system), which is much more suited for most real life situations.
But some dimmer folks replaced it by the decimal system, because they
couldn't do the math without using their fingers. So I fear we have to
live with that.

Stefan

01-- Zero One wrote:
'duodecimal system' -- We use that all the time in libraries in the USA.

Groan :-).

Tony V.