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Possible Flight Plan changes


CT4ME

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It looks like the format for filing a flight plan is going to change this Fall.  For those those who fly International, the new form will look familiar, it's the ICAO flight plan form.  Another proposed change:  The universal FlightWatch frequency may go away, replaced with other ATC freqs.

 

http://www.aopa.org/News-and-Video/All-News/2015/March/26/Changes-to-Flight-Services-planned

http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/service_units/systemops/fs/changes/ 

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Bill

 

I'll believe it when you fill your tanks in litres :)

 

Why would we want to do that?!?  They are smaller than gallons, leading to more fuel exhaustion accidents...safety first!   ;)

 

Funny story:  My first wife and I traveled to Germany, and rented a car in Frankfurt.  We passed the first gas station we saw on the road, and:

 

EX:  "Everybody says that gas in Europe is so expensive, but the price here is about the same as in the US!"

 

ME:  "Baby, those prices are in Euros, and in liters."

 

EX:  "Oh...how many liters in a gallon?"

 

ME: "Around four."

 

EX:  "Oh.  How many Euros in a dollar?"

 

ME: "About point eight."

 

EX:  "Oh... OH!"

 

ME: "Yeah." 

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Why would we want to do that?!?  They are smaller than gallons, leading to more fuel exhaustion accidents...safety first!   ;)

But being smaller you can pack more in, therefore clearly you can go further (especially if you've got a magic wonder plane!)

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Just came back from 2 weeks in the UK.

 

We had a compact diesel Kia CEED which got pretty good mileage.

 

Prices have dropped somewhat but….we went to fill up with a bit above ¼ tank left and it came to £81, which is just about $120 !!

 

Even after our airline employee discounts the car rental was over $540. Includes a premium for using Heathrow, a premium for an automatic, a premium to let my wife drive too and we declined the insurance using our credit card for that!!

 

 We paid £1.28 at Fleet Services for diesel. That's a $1.90 for a litre. 3.79 litres per US gallon so $7 + per gallon whereas here in SC we pay $2.01. Yikes.

 

We're both from the UK so we really feel your pain Ian!! :(

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The U.S. is backing into the metric system. All science uses it as a basis. The military uses it. 2 liter soda bottles hold.....2 liters. Cars are increasingly metric. Many components such as alternators are metric.

It's unbelievable to me that the U.S. is not metric. I lived 13 years in countries that use the metric system and it is simply not a problem.

It is easy for me to know and figure in my head that one chain by one furlong is one acre. Since I'm a farmer, I find this information convenient to use in guessing how many acres are in a plot, how many acres in a round of a 6 row 30 inch corn planter.

Anyone else out there know how many feet are in a chain or a rod, how many chains in a furlong, without looking it up? Wouldn't the metric system be easier where everything is base 10?

Don't get me started.

When I have to set a sprayer formula, some of the herbicides are in ounces per acre, some in gallons per acres (or quarts or pints), some in pounds. I've often thought of just switching my farm to metric.

Don't get me started.

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Biggest issue for me is telling what the temperature is. The Fahrenheit system is more precise per degree. Plus the cost of all the signs that would need to be replaced. I am for the change despite those issues.

Maybe my local Cessna dealer would carry parts I can use!

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As so much else in the UK we are somewhat muddled. Things sold by weight are now all based on the kilogramme but we still drink beer by the pint (and long may it stay so!).

We buy fuel in litres but drive miles!

As an old codger I've lived through decimalisation of our currency, it is certainly easier to use 100 pence to the pound than 12 pence to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound though having to do mental arithmetic using a half crown (two shillings and sixpence) or a coin worth three pence does sharpen the brain!

Same with Fahrenheit to Celsius - I think that is still the hardest change to get accustomed to though if you think rationally about it a scale running from 32 to 212 is inherently odd!!

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Temperature is already familiar to any of us who listen to forecasts. Temperature 15°C dew point 10°C. We hear it all the time.

Most of the time we want to know how the temperature affects everyday life. Freezing is easy. Light jacket is 10°. 25 is 75. 35 is hot. What more does one need to know? Oh, yeah, -40° is -40°. That should cover about everything. :)

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Plus pilots and sailors around the world still measure distance by nautical mile!

 

But that has plenty of rationality being based on the cirumference of the earth - how about measuring the height of a horse in hands though?

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Certainly beats discussing whether an autpilot can keep the ball in the middle

I guess that depends on whether the inclinometer is metric, SAE or degrees*!

 

 

 

*Seriously, who came up with 360º in a circle? Live would be so much easier with 100º!

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