Dear USMA, I wrote to our civil aviation safety authority as follows: I note that the safety rules are drawn up in feet while all Australian maps are now in metres. This is obviously a safety issue because the training manual for hot air ballooning warns, "Watch out – aviation charts and your altimeter are calibrated in feet, but topographical maps usually show contours and spot heights in metres!" "ABF Pilot Training Manual, Part 8, Navigation, Version 1 - May 2006" Could CASA push for the metrication of all the measures? I am sure that it would be safer for all if all the measures were metric. Yours sincerely, Michael Glass
This is their reply: Dear Mr Glass On behalf of the Director of Aviation Safety, thank you for your email. The common international standard for altitude measurement in aviation is feet and this is why Australian aeronautical charts use feet as the measurement of altitude. Where topographical maps are used in aviation activities that you must be careful to remember they are showing altitude in metres and to take care when converting data. There is no current plan to change the aviation measurement of altitude from feet to metres and it is likely Australia would only move in this direction if there was an international change. Regards Peter Gibson Manager Corporate Communications Civil Aviation Safety Authority 0419 296 446 Over to you, USMA. How about pushing for a change with your civil aviation authorities? Best wishes, Michael Glass
