Knots -v- MPH

How do you describe your speed when flying?

  • I use knots why flying.

    Votes: 69 79.3%

  • I use MPH when flying

    Votes: 17 19.5%

  • I use kilometers per hour

    Votes: 1 1.1%
  • Total voters
    87
Henning said:
Right, my issue is not with arbitrariness of the base as much as the ease of use. The imperial system is very wasteful in time and materials in industry as people waste more time making calculations and are more prone to error using the Imperial system. Although, a kilo gram being based on a liter of fresh water, we lose a considerable amount of your arbitrariness argument.
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True, but a liter is a unit of volume, which ties back to the meter again.

I'll accept the insanity of the different units in the Imperial system, but I tend to play devil's advocate...a lot...and when he attacked purely based on arbitraryness, I saw a great opportunity to have a winning debate!:yikes:
 
JeffDG said:
True, but a liter is a unit of volume, which ties back to the meter again.

I'll accept the insanity of the different units in the Imperial system, but I tend to play devil's advocate...a lot...and when he attacked purely based on arbitraryness, I saw a great opportunity to have a winning debate!:yikes:
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It's not about winning it is about standardization. ;)
 
ejensen said:
Reminds me of listening to my cousin (A6 BN) talk about night DR off the carrier in the middle of the Pacific. They actually did find their way back to the ship.
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As a former A-6 B/N myself (PACFLT no less), I can tell you that we had a lot of ways to find the boat before we were reduced to pure DR.
 
I use Cubits per Score.

Seriously, my ASI has MPH on the outer ring, knots on the inner.

Since my GPS, charts, flight plans, and most everything else are in knots, I use those for navigation.
My plane's V-Speeds are defined in MPH, so I use MPH for performance.
 
Ron Levy said:
As a former A-6 B/N myself (PACFLT no less), I can tell you that we had a lot of ways to find the boat before we were reduced to pure DR.
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I remember that you were. He was a few years after you. This was training, IIRC. They turned off the other stuff unless needed. No electronic emissions. Some kind of lights on the carrier, again IIRC. He showed me some of his notes. I was impressed.
 
Ron Levy said:
Dunno what the ship-drivers did in that case.
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Wait for a better day. At 10-15 Kt you won't get very far off course in 24 hrs. Plus in a ship if you hold heading accurately you're going to be close as long as you're not sailing though a big cross current.
 
ejensen said:
I remember that you were. He was a few years after you. This was training, IIRC. They turned off the other stuff unless needed. No electronic emissions. Some kind of lights on the carrier, again IIRC. He showed me some of his notes. I was impressed.
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Ah, yes -- EMCON ALPHA recovery. However, we still had our on-board inertial plus the E-2 giving encrypted vectors until we acquired the ship visually.
 
Ron Levy said:
Ah, yes -- EMCON ALPHA recovery. However, we still had our on-board inertial plus the E-2 giving encrypted vectors until we acquired the ship visually.
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Thanks! :) I was going to reply with "Uh, Grey ghost? Vectors to home plate?"

Works well until the biggest radar target in the Gulf turns out to be an oil tanker vs mother. Kind of exciting to break out of the funk lined up on a big red boat ...
 
gkainz said:
Thanks! :) I was going to reply with "Uh, Grey ghost? Vectors to home plate?"

Works well until the biggest radar target in the Gulf turns out to be an oil tanker vs mother. Kind of exciting to break out of the funk lined up on a big red boat ...
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Or until the Ruskies send a regiment of MiG-23s to visit with the big radar emitter in the sky.
 
JeffDG said:
Or until the Ruskies send a regiment of MiG-23s to visit with the big radar emitter in the sky.
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How many airborne early warning aircraft have we lost due to hostile action? I've lost count...there have been so many.
 
When it was pointed out that the Hawkeye has no weapons (there was one at PAX River fitted with a sidewinder rail and I think make 2 test shots), our response was "We're not Winchester until every asset under my control is Winchester." (out of missiles and bullets). If a gaggle of MIGs gets close enough for a shot, we screwed up.
 
These references total 3 but doesn't account for peacetime losses - I know we lost a couple on cruises, and I know of at least 2 from LANTFLT (East Coast) lost - 1 due to elevator disconnect and 1 to suspected runaway prop overspeed. The one below may be the same incident.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_the_War_in_Afghanistan

USAF Roundel March 31: US Navy E-2 Hawkeye surveillance plane stationed with the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower crashed in the Arabian sea at approximately 2 p.m. local time while returning from an operational flight conducted as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. The one U.S. crew member presumed missing was declared dead and three were rescued.[61]


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_losses_of_the_Vietnam_War
E-2 Hawkeye --2 total, 0 in combat

-E-2A 151711 (VAW-116, USS Coral Sea), 8 April 1970, 5 crewmen killed
-E-2B 151719 (VAW-115, USS Midway), 11 June 1971, 5 crewmen missing
 
What about the one that was hit by the Chinese MiG and got ditched in the N Pacific?
 
Are you sure you're not thinking of the EP-3?
 
Henning said:
What about the one that was hit by the Chinese MiG and got ditched in the N Pacific?
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Are you thinking of the elint aircraft that landed in China?


AFAIK we haven't lost an E-2 or E-3 to hostile action. Not surprising that US forces don't leave the E-2 or E-3 aircraft hanging out there buck naked.
 
Depends on the plane.

The 310 and Aztec were certified with their various Vspeeds in MPH. So, I use MPH for those speeds. The Navajo, Cheyenne, and Commander are all certified in KTS, so I use KTS for those.

For navigation, I use KTS. The GPS and DMEs are all set that way. But I'll convert to MPH to impress passengers with big numbers and tell them how fast we're going. Funny enough, it works.
 
Geico266 said:
Okay, why do we use statute miles to describe visibility?
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Probably because converting the existing visibility requirements to nautical miles would have meant increasing visibility minimums by 15%.

And altitude in feet?
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Probably because changing to another unit would have meant using rather cumbersome standards, such as 300 meter vertical separation, or increasing separation unnecessarily.
 
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