Welcome! Hectopascal
Thread Starter
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 439
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From: UK
Welcome! Hectopascal
It must have taken some late nights, but the CAA have today issued a statement that as of November this year in the UK we must all drop "millibars" and instead use "hectopascals". All METARS & TAFS & RT will have to comply.
When I first encountered hectopascal in was in Eire. And the controllers there make it sound like Hector Pascal. So maybe we should have a Hector Pascal Day to celebrate a complete waste of time.
The figures don't change one digit - just the description.
Aren't there more pressing issues for the CAA to sort out in our industry? Or have they really just become a toy remotely controlled from Euroland?
When I first encountered hectopascal in was in Eire. And the controllers there make it sound like Hector Pascal. So maybe we should have a Hector Pascal Day to celebrate a complete waste of time.
The figures don't change one digit - just the description.
Aren't there more pressing issues for the CAA to sort out in our industry? Or have they really just become a toy remotely controlled from Euroland?
Joined: Aug 1999
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
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From: Gold Coast, Australia
The French revenge: they never forgave the English for creating the Greenwich Meridian 
Australia mandated the use of Monsieur Pascal under International Agreement way back, either the late 80's or early 90's. Still a PITA, but it's much along the lines of the Prime Minister of the day lecturing the great unwashed as to how to pronounce 'kilometre'.
No-one took any notice
Australia mandated the use of Monsieur Pascal under International Agreement way back, either the late 80's or early 90's. Still a PITA, but it's much along the lines of the Prime Minister of the day lecturing the great unwashed as to how to pronounce 'kilometre'.
No-one took any notice
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 768
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From: Montreal
Iain, take heart, they've thought of everything. Over 1000 millibars, oops I mean hectopascals, you only get the numbers, under you get the numbers plus the "hectopascals". hPa pretty common around the world, and the newer EFIS aircraft can be set to whatever you want.
Joined: Dec 2008
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From: N/A
Been tried before
There used to be a PINK AIC
Which said "as of 14th November 1989" (or 1988 I think) "All pressure settings will be in Hectopascals"
But nobody read it....
At least hPa have 'meaning', enabling pilots to understand that Standard Pressure is 101,325 Newtons/Square Meter
Since the strength of Earth gravity is about 10 Newtons per Kilogram you can see that Standard Pressure is like having 10,000 Kilos per Square Meter .... or 10Tons per Square Meter.
1hPa = 10Kilos per Square Meter (approximately)
Link: www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/IN201143.pdf
Which said "as of 14th November 1989" (or 1988 I think) "All pressure settings will be in Hectopascals"
But nobody read it....
At least hPa have 'meaning', enabling pilots to understand that Standard Pressure is 101,325 Newtons/Square Meter
Since the strength of Earth gravity is about 10 Newtons per Kilogram you can see that Standard Pressure is like having 10,000 Kilos per Square Meter .... or 10Tons per Square Meter.
1hPa = 10Kilos per Square Meter (approximately)
Link: www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/IN201143.pdf
Joined: Oct 2003
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From: Over here
I think the Brits should stick with a truly British unit of measurement, like the Americans, and stay with inches of mercury. None of that silly metric stuff, why make things simple? Pints, gills, rods, etc are the way to go, make everyone use a calculator or honed memory. 
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 505
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From: Wiltshire, UK
I think the Brits should stick with a truly British unit of measurement
1013.25 millibars = 14.695948804 p.s.i. - easy.
Just need to make that little window in the altimeter a bit longer....
Joined: Apr 2000
Aviation Qualifications: ATP+Mil
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From: EGDC
AnFI - but a meter is a device you use to measure something with, whereas a metre is a unit of measure
...not sure what you would measure with a square meter....people in suits perhaps?
...not sure what you would measure with a square meter....people in suits perhaps?
Joined: Mar 2008
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From: Where I'm pointing...
Originally Posted by [email protected]
...not sure what you would measure with a square meter....people in suits perhaps?
