Metric Instruments?

I would, but at the moment I'm living in Germany and have a German
glider PPL so I would prefer to fly with it in its current
configuration and conform to everyone else that is flying here.
Although I'm sure there's someone out there who might want them when I
leave, although for some reason I want to keep it the way it is. I'm
plenty happy with the metric instruments as they are.

Adam

Stanford Korwin wrote:

Except, perhaps, the ASI - so as not to confuse 50
kph with 50 knots in the heat of the moment !

This has, I am told, happened - with unfortunate consequences.

I have imported a glider from Germany (to the UK) -

If the glider was certificated in Germany, then I suspect it has a green
arc, a yellow arc, a red line and, most helpful, a yellow triangle.

Stefan

At 14:30 23 August 2005, Stefan wrote:
Stanford Korwin wrote:

Except, perhaps, the ASI - so as not to confuse 50
kph with 50 knots in the heat of the moment !

This has, I am told, happened - with unfortunate consequences.

I have imported a glider from Germany (to the UK)
-

If the glider was certificated in Germany, then I suspect
it has a green
arc, a yellow arc, a red line and, most helpful, a
yellow triangle.

Stefan


It may well have done Stefan - we never saw the original
instruments because the importing agent replaced them
with ones calibrated in feet & knots - at very reasonable
cost.
Both my, then, partner and I did not feel that any
risks were worth taking for such a small outlay.

The glider was, in fact, an Open Cirrus - which someone
in this thread has commented on.

This is a very lightly loaded sailplane - and a pussy-cat
on take-off, approach and landing.
It is, simply, not fair to compare its flying characteristics
to an average, 15 m, machine - especially a lead-sled
like my (current) Std. Jantar-3 - or something like
a Cirrus 75.
Completely different animals.

Confusion between kph and knots has arisen - with a
resulting crash.

In aviation, if it can possibly happen, it will - and,
usually, more than once !

Why take risks - for the price of a relatively cheap
and easy-to-install instrument.

Thanks for your valuable input.

Stan,
UK.

Right on Stan!
In addition--one other, not so obvious point.
Our club imported to the USA, a K21 from Germany. Alt in feet, and ASI in
kt was part of the deal. When it arrived, we found that the ALT was a
metric, with a "feet" face on it. That is, one revolution of the long
pointer was 1000 meters, rounded off to 3000 ft. In Georgia USA, getting
above 6000 msl is a unusual feat, so we decided to live with it. Many club
members had problems relating to interpreting the pointer position instead
of reading the numbers. It happens a lot, and has been proven that pilots
tend to interpret the position, rather than the indication. (switch to a
digital numeric display and see what happens)..
So -- under stress---avoid the possibility of a misread---get a "real" feet
ALT. We replaced them and sold the converted metrics to be converted back
to metric!

--
Hartley Falbaum
"Stanford Korwin" wrote in
message ...
At 14:30 23 August 2005, Stefan wrote:
Stanford Korwin wrote:

Except, perhaps, the ASI - so as not to confuse 50
kph with 50 knots in the heat of the moment !

This has, I am told, happened - with unfortunate consequences.

I have imported a glider from Germany (to the UK)
-

If the glider was certificated in Germany, then I suspect
it has a green
arc, a yellow arc, a red line and, most helpful, a
yellow triangle.

Stefan


It may well have done Stefan - we never saw the original
instruments because the importing agent replaced them
with ones calibrated in feet & knots - at very reasonable
cost.
Both my, then, partner and I did not feel that any
risks were worth taking for such a small outlay.

The glider was, in fact, an Open Cirrus - which someone
in this thread has commented on.

This is a very lightly loaded sailplane - and a pussy-cat
on take-off, approach and landing.
It is, simply, not fair to compare its flying characteristics
to an average, 15 m, machine - especially a lead-sled
like my (current) Std. Jantar-3 - or something like
a Cirrus 75.
Completely different animals.

Confusion between kph and knots has arisen - with a
resulting crash.

In aviation, if it can possibly happen, it will - and,
usually, more than once !

Why take risks - for the price of a relatively cheap
and easy-to-install instrument.

Thanks for your valuable input.

Stan,
UK.

I used to fly my Kestrel w/ metirc instruments in the USA. As I have a
Cambridge L-NAV I set the altitude to feet.
....Toby