I believe the foot for aviation was pushed on the world after the World War 2. But now that everyone but the US and partially the UK has converted to metres it would be great if the Europeans pushed for meters in Europe, just the Reduced vertical separation at altitude it would in 10-20 years force everyone else along. With the introduction of "glass" cockpits, you can have the altitude display in metres with the push of a button.
Good luck on changing the US though, they face strong opposition to even giving the altimeter setting in hPa, leading to the use of inHg on the ground and hPa for pressure levels once airborne. Regards, Mike Payne On 25/07/2011, at 08:43 , Michael GLASS wrote: > 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 > >
