Ken:
>Although the Q-codes are not part of the modern private
>pilot curriculum in the US, I've always wondered where
>they came from (I've only heard the old-timers and some
>of the glider pilots talk about them). But it's not
>clear to me if QNH was intentional or a backronym.
They're used all the time in Britain. When you're
going to fly you ask for airfield information and you
get QNH (sea-level pressure in millibars), which runway
is in use, etc. When you are near your destination you
call up and you get QFE (surface pressure at the airfield,
so you avoid flying embarrassingly 100ft below ground
level), which runway, which circuit direction, availability
of dancing girls(*), blahblah.
Our pilot's GPS worked just fine in Menorca, BTW. Five or
ten metre accuracy, IIRC. We sometimes use it on the
boat to see what terrifying speeds we are reaching.
It's also quite good for calibrating your car speedometer
to see how much it is exaggerating your speed.
Dave
NB WifeIsPilot
(*) I lied about the dancing girls
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