"Gene Nygaard" wrote in message
...

The preference to use powers of 1000 is just a preference because
practicality and pragmatism is sometimes more important than an arbitrary
recommendation. This is a perfect example of where pragmatism should
(and
does) win.

Oh, good grief.

Does anybody use feet for altitude?

Do all of the analog instruments show all the digits in those feet?

Pilots have become accustomed to using feet for altitude. Can you imagine
the confusion that would arise if the unit suddenly shifted by a factor of
10?

"Descend and maintain 300 decafeet"

Any room for confusion there?

We already have trouble enough with pilots screwing up inHg to mbar
conversions. What does an altimeter setting of "nine ninety two" mean?

As a physicist and a pilot, I'd rather live with the inconvenience of using
a hecto prefix for stuff that comes across my desk than risking confusion in
the cockpit. So would ICAO.

Julian Scarfe