>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.

Interesting.  I know that European METARs report sea-level pressure in
millibars with a Q prefix; I didn't make the connection to the
Q-codes.  In the US we use inches of mercury and we always use QNH on
the radio (but it is always referred to as "altimeter").  Something to
remember in the unlikely event I ever manage to go flying in the UK.

--Ken

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