Canary Boy,
The reason why I say it is tradition is because the average RAF intake does not know very much about altimeter settings until they learn what the traditional system is. If the RAF had kept to the QNH system in the late 80s, the pilots qualified in the past 10 to 15 years many of whom ae now the QFIs would not know about QFE ops and would not be passing on the tradition.
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London Mil,
The reason as far as I am aware for the North Sea helis using a common altimeter setting is because very often they are IFR at or below the transition altitude (to stay out of icing). When things are busy on the defined tracks it is a great idea for IFR flights to have a common altimeter setting for separation purposes. There is also an advisory service provided to those flights. In fact I think that the place is so busy for ATC that no other flights are allowed at the moment over a large part of the area due to one of the radar heads being out of action.
Since the Mil are in such need of RPS, how many RPS areas are there in say Iraq, Saudi, Afganistan and other places round the world?
Would it not be better for military training to reflect the operational realities of operating in the back end of nowhere at short notice while under pressure?
As for having to call ATS for QNHs. That is old hat with data link technology available the nearest QNH can be available at the push of a button.
Terrain following radar and rad alts of course dont need RPS!
Regards,
DFC