Checkboard - either I've substantially misunderstood your last post, or you're substantially wrong. Maybe you should read the above thread?

BTW, your altimeter is not corrected for air density when you set QNH.

Cold or low, look out below!

Not trying to start a fight here,
O8

Checkers,

I might just hang out with the non-combatant overcast on this one.


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Stay Alive,

[email protected]

Oooops!!

Well, there goes the cred.. I think I may have been a little under the weather when I posted that last! (I did wrestle with my conscience about doing the sneaky edit, but I will correct myself here instead.)

Read QFE for QNE in my above post.

As to the density correction, I was referring to the fact that, if you are at a field with an elevation of 5000', and you set the QNH from the tower you will see 5000' on the altimeter, regardless of temperature, ie corrected for density.

This compares with flying at (a true) 5000', and using a QNH from a sea level airport, in which case you would have to do your own density correction, so the QNH is density corrected up to the level of the QNH datum (the airport that issued it.)

And standard pressure is QNE...


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Stay Alive,

[email protected]

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I've come very late to it by way of a couple of current ones. However, I must correct a clear misconception which risks being perpetuated, most recently by 4dogs.

QNE is not a pressure setting it is an altimeter reading, measured in units of length (feet, metres, etc.) and not in millibars, hectopascals or inches.

The correct meaning of QNE is:

On landing at .... (PLACE) at .... hours, with your subscale being set to 1013.2 millibars, your altimeter will indicate .... (FIGURES AND UNITS)

ATC watcher is not quite correct in saying that all of the Q codes were questions. Since they were designed for W/T use, the interrogative form would be indicated by prefixing the code with INT (..-.-). Hence

INT QFG - Am I overhead?
QFG - You are overhead

QAA to QNZ are reserved for the aeronautical service, QOA to QQZ for the maritime service and QRA to QUZ for all services.

The Z code, mentioned by Hopper, was developed as a service code by Cable & Wireless and later taken up and expanded by others, including the military. It relates, almost exclusively, to communication by radioteletype. His example of ZKA ZKB INT QRK INT QRA translates as :

Who is controlling station?; Permission necessary before transmitting messages; What is the intelligibility of my signals?; What is the name of your station?

The response would likely be QRK0 (the intelligibility of your signals is zero), closely followed by a one-sided interview with POTS or the CRS, since that particular combination of codes would be gibberish in communications terms. Incidentally, both ZKA and ZKB are reserved for military use.

If anyone is that sad, I have a full decode of both Q and X codes from my days as a sparker.

[This message has been edited by watford (edited 27 August 2000).]

Watfird - nearly there! - the interrogative for the 'Q' code was IMI(barred), not INT(barred). The (barred) annotation just meant that the characters were transmitted with no spacing. The INT query function was used only with the 'Z' (military) code.

Watford,

Given that I have been nailed for my ignorance (or was it my memory), I would appreciate a copy of the full Q decode if at all practicable, please.

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Stay Alive,

[email protected]

On the lighter side of things: In our Tower we always take a "QNP" when you realise that you are not going to find someone else to blame. QNP - Quick Nervous Pee
Bye

mallard and McD

Interesting that AA used QFE. What did they do at high altitude places like Denver and Calgary? You cannot wind the altimeter back far enough - I know, I tried it once out of idle curiosity at Calgary (3550') - you run out of sub-scale.

When American and Eastern Air Lines used QFE, they actually had specially made altimeters which could be wound down far enough to read zero at Denver (alt. 5330 feet)

This link has all the Q codes including non-aviation ones. http://www.kloth.net/qcodes.htm