Here here!
BigEndBob
I'm glad I'm not the only one to see that Regional Pressures are about as useful as cholcolate fireguards.
All day long I hear people requesting the Barnsley and Cotswolds, getting all flustered and confused over 1 millibar, reading them back incorrectly, and then not using them anyway!
And whats the need for regional pressures anyway???
The purists will say "ah, its so you can guarantee terrain clearance!" What difference has a couple of millibars ever made to a CFIT accident? I can't ever recall a situation where an aircraft struck high ground because he had a QNH set instead of the regional pressure. We're generally only talking a few millibars here, so if a few millibars is what makes the difference between hitting the ground and not hitting it, I think its fair to say the aircraft would be flying too close to terra firma anyway!
Interestingly, the terrain clearance argument works both ways. How many pilots have unwittingly flown just under the base of a CTA with regional QNH set, only to discover that when they set the aerodrome QNH they are inside controlled airspace!
It is my understanding that the other purpose of regional QNH is that it gets aircraft flying outside controlled airspace on the same altimeter setting. To me this is exactly what we don't want - every man and his dog buzzing around at 2000 feet on a Sunday afternoon on the same setting.
I personally think it is more prudent to set the QNH of aerodromes en-route, updating the altimeter as you go. This way your looking at an accurate indication of altitude, which to me is much more useful and reassuring than confusing the situation and flying an altitude which is anything but true.
I can't see why we need to bother with a bunch of altimeter settings we don't need. If it was up to me I would ditch QFE as well, but thats another debate!
Cheers all