Law of Primacy

On Jun 6, 9:03*am, Mike Yankee wrote:
Your mocking tone does not help the argument. *The issue with zeroing
one's altimeter has nothing to do with units of measurement. *One can
fly safely and proficiently using knots, meters per second, furlongs
per fortnight, etc. *Flying with one's altimeter set to zero
simplifies one data point (height above ground at the departure field
for a given barometric pressure), which has a certain appeal to
neophytes, but complicates everything else from final glides to
spotting traffic.

The point about the Law of Primacy is not that QFE is "wrong" per se
(although its disadvantages should be obvious) but that, once taught,
it may be hard to unlearn. *So why bother teaching it? *Instructors
and club officers should be mindful of the problems it can cause.

This is a "convert to the metric system" problem. I.e. it's the right
thing to do any only gets harder as time goes on... You can deal with
a big problem now or a bigger problem later.

On Jun 6, 1:20*pm, "John Godfrey (QT)" wrote:
On Jun 6, 9:03*am, Mike Yankee wrote:

Your mocking tone does not help the argument. *The issue with zeroing
one's altimeter has nothing to do with units of measurement. *One can
fly safely and proficiently using knots, meters per second, furlongs
per fortnight, etc. *Flying with one's altimeter set to zero
simplifies one data point (height above ground at the departure field
for a given barometric pressure), which has a certain appeal to
neophytes, but complicates everything else from final glides to
spotting traffic.

Mocking tone is intended.......

Point is we have to do unit conversion all the time, without
catastrophic results.....

Using altimeter cleverly means no conversions.........

Yes, altimeter set to zero simplifies one data point.........that is
the reason to do it.........for local flights, in class E airspace,
without radio, etc....Or not........then use MSL and do
math.........OK too...........

Using MSL for other purposed simplifies too.......so use that when you
need it.....

Using 29.92 is neceassary at other times...........use it when you
need to

Big deal about nothing!