Gene wrote: >Would you recommend m/s or km/h for rates of ascent and descent of aircraft, or >would you argue that ft/s should be retained because most pilots (except pilots >from eastern Europe) are already more comfortable with ft/s?
Of course I would not argue in favor of ft/s! There is no benefit to using feet except the pilots are already more familiar with it. Familiarity, of course, is not likely to be much of an argument to anyone on this mailing list (including me). That is not the issue as with km/h vs. m/s. In that issue, I am talking about whether we will likely be measuring time intervals in hours or seconds. I'm not a pilot, but I would imagine they would be interested in both m/s and km/h. If they want to know how many hours it will take to get to a city, km/h will probably be more natural. >Nevertheless, I want m/s as a "option" relating to closing distances >and time intervals before a collision. I suspect that pilots would entirely agree with this. They are much more likely to quantitatively analyze closing distances and time intervals than the average motorist. With digital readouts on dashboards now, it would be easy to include the option of m/s. I wouldn't mind the option of seeing speed in m/s, but I wouldn't use it all the time. Carl -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] On Behalf Of Gene Mechtly Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 5:10 PM To: U.S. Metric Association Cc: U.S. Metric Association Subject: [USMA:21202] Unit for Speed On Tue, 16 Jul 2002, Carl Sorenson wrote: > ... If even the metric countries don't use m/s in cars and on > highways, it will be a lonely crusade, ... Carl, Nevertheless, I want m/s as a "option" relating to closing distances and time intervals before a collision. On a related question, we are told that international rules for air traffic control are being revised. Would you recommend m/s or km/h for rates of ascent and descent of aircraft, or would you argue that ft/s should be retained because most pilots (except pilots from eastern Europe) are already more comfortable with ft/s? Gene.
