Chinese/Russian Aircraft with Meteric Alitmeters in Chinese RVSM airspace

[bluehawaii]

Ladies and Gents, do Chinese Aircrafts fly with Metric Alitmeters in Chinese RVSM airspace above Transition Altitude and below Transition Level?

Ladies and Gents, do Russian Aircrafts fly with Metric Alitmeters in RVSM airspace above Transition Altitude and below Transition Level?

[Oceanic815Pilot]

In the A320's and 319's I flew over there the FCU altimeter window was still in feet. The aircraft can display the metric altitude on the ND. We had to convert the metric altitudes and levels to feet and selected that on the FCU. Additionally, ours were pinned for QFE operations.

[Denti]

Russia changed to normal Flightlevels measured in feet a while back. Below transition it is still meters QFE though. A recipe for desaster actually and it did lead to some incidents already with pilots getting it wrong (dialing in feet STD instead of meters QFE on NPAs).

[de facto]

You fly using meters in chinese airspace.Conversion tables (meters to feet) are crosschecked before selecting a new altitude.
Some airports use QFE.
QFE is never used above TL as standard pressure 1013.15(2992 in) is used.
Refer to your aircraft QFE operation for guidance.

[hikoushi]

Basically China kept metric altitudes even after RVSM came about because their military requires it. They use 300 meter separation, which comes out to about 980 feet. To comply with ICAO RVSM standards which require 1000 FEET clearance and simultaneously comply with their own requirement of 300 METER separation, they "fudged" the metric / feet conversion and came up with that lovely chart. Hence the note to "fly FEET in Chinese RVSM airspace using the China Meters to Feet conversion table". You look up your cleared metric altitude, find the corresponding feet value, and fly feet. Your metric altimeter may show up to 30M (almost 100 feet) off.

By fudging each metric flight level conversion by 20 or 30 feet, the actual FL has 1000 FEET separation from the next, and the military guys can still fly metric increments of 300.

You will notice that the feet value for metric flight levels on that chart will be 100 feet off of whatever the equivalent level is elsewhere. For instance you cross the border from Korea at FL400. You are told to "climb maintain 11,900 meters". The chart shows that 11,900 M equals 40,100 ft. You select and fly 40,100. The metric reDout will show a touch off. This is normal.

So you will CLIMB 100 feet entering China, and DESCEND 100 feet LEAVING.

[de facto]

Wouldnt 11900 M be 39100 ft selected?:8, 40100 ft being 12200 M if my memory serves me right:p

[hikoushi]

Yes sir thou art correct!! Too much "drinkee" went into that post. Tsingtao makes math go away. Aren't you glad the Chinese were smart enough to make those handy conversion charts for people like me?:ugh::8


Also for the OP, here is the Chinese rule regarding which altimeter to use, as presented in the IFALPA document on same:


Altitude/ Flight Level Clearances

To prevent undesirable ACAS TA/RA triggering in RVSM airspace and since most civil aircraft use FEET as the primary
altitude reference with a minimum selectable interval of 100 feet;

a) ATC will issue the Flight Level clearance in metres. Pilots shall use the China RVSM FLAS table to
determine the corresponding Flight Level in feet. The aircraft shall be flown using the flight level in FEET.

b) Pilots should be aware that due to the rounding differences, the metric readout of the onboard avionics will
not necessarily correspond to the cleared Flight Level in metres, however, the difference will never be more
than 30 metres.

c) Aircraft equipped with metric and feet altimeters such as the Il-96, Il-62, Tu-214 or Tu-154 shall use the
feet altimeter in RVSM airspace. If unable to use the feet altimeter, the operator shall contact the China
RVSM Program office and apply for special approval to operate into China RVSM as described in China AIP
section 9 (Contact information can be found in section 9.4.3).

Outside of the RVSM FL band, metre altimeters may be used.