Is there even *one* good argument for setting the altimeter to zero on
the runway?

-Evan Ludeman / T8

I learned how to fly at Caesar Creek Soaring Club (nee Soaring Society
of Dayton operating out of Richmond, Indiana) in 1965. As now, the
club used an altimeter setting of zero on the runway (AGL/QFE). I did,
too, for years--with a lot of cross country hours--because I flew only
in the Midwestern U.S. where the greatest difference between takeoff
and landing altitude was a few hundred feet. I referred to those
quaint Sectional charts we used for navigation back then to look up
the field elevation at other airports, which I would have done anyway
even if using MSL/QNH. There was a lot less controlled airspace so I
almost never talked a tower, ATC, or powered aircraft. Most of the
time, the altimeter told me about how high I was above the terrain. If
it looked closer, I used judgment to gauge when it was time to land,
just as I do today.

I can't remember when I made the switch to MSL/QNH for all the right
reasons. It wasn't a big deal. I'm sure using AGL/QFE was easier when
I was an early student--one less thing to worry about--but that's
something the instructor could have covered for me until I could
learn, just as he compensated for my poor takeoff and landing skills
initially.

The biggest reasons AGAINST switching to MSL/QNH earlier were,
interestingly enough, related NOT to staying around the home airport
but to flying cross country and, especially, contests:

1. Start and finish gate altitudes were set AGL. In the olden days
when we dove at high speed across a line on the ground, it was
slightly easier to judge how far above or below the max height one
might be when the big hand on the altimeter was unwinding towards zero
and the hand on the ASI was hovering near redline (ah, the good old
days....).
2. Final glides were MUCH easier to monitor. In those pre-computer
days, I would sit in the cockpit with my cardboard calculator in my
left hand monitoring landmarks as I flew on and comparing altitude
needed with actual altitude above the finish line read directly from
my altimeter. No subtraction required.

After I made the switch to MSL/QNH, for a while copied a technique I'd
read about some pilots using at the Worlds: i.e., I set my altimeter
on zero on the grid and wrote down the pressure setting, then
immediately set it back to field elevation. On final glide, I would
reset the altimeter to the zero pressure setting (AGL/QFE) again so I
could monitor altitude above the finish line. That worked well until I
started flying out West where, as some have pointed out, higher field
elevations made it impossible to reset the altimeter to zero. I read
of at least one world-class pilot who installed two altimeters in the
cockpit, one set to AGL/QFE and the other to MSL/QNH!

With the advent of final glide computers, I no longer needed my
cardboard calculator. I still carry it in the cockpit, however, and
occasionally pull it out to "common sense" the numbers coming out of
the computer. When I do, I mentally do the subtraction to determine my
actual altitude above the goal and am thankful for all the technology
that makes this decision such a no-brainer to younger pilots.

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"
USA