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#1
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Metric Instruments
This may be a silly question - but are all metric altimeters
configured with 'Zero at 6 O'clock' as I saw in France? I did not have trouble converting to meters/kilometers but I did have trouble quickly reading the altimeter with the zero at the bottom of the instrument face (especially on the little 57mm instruments). Just curious. Roy |
#2
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Yes, they are.
-- Bert Willing ASW20 "TW" "Roy Bourgeois" a écrit dans le message de news: ... This may be a silly question - but are all metric altimeters configured with 'Zero at 6 O'clock' as I saw in France? I did not have trouble converting to meters/kilometers but I did have trouble quickly reading the altimeter with the zero at the bottom of the instrument face (especially on the little 57mm instruments). Just curious. Roy |
#3
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No. I believe that it is an old German standard, but if you buy
PZL instruments you can specify it to either top or bottom. http://www.pzl.com.pl/en/produkty/os...e/pw-12-a.html BTW, these instruments are very high quality but somewhat heavy. Highly recommended. Regards Stig Oye In article , Roy Bourgeois says: This may be a silly question - but are all metric altimeters configured with 'Zero at 6 O'clock' as I saw in France? I did not have trouble converting to meters/kilometers but I did have trouble quickly reading the altimeter with the zero at the bottom of the instrument face (especially on the little 57mm instruments). Just curious. Roy |
#4
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Does it strike some of the digerati here that expensive mechanical
altimeters with easily mis-read clock-like hands locked into either the metric or US measurement systems are archaic? GPS provides highly accurate, although not ATC compliant, altitude. Various vendors provide electronic pressure altimeters with digital displays that can be switched between meters and feet with the push of a button. Digital pressure altitude sensors drive the "glass cockpits" of new GA aircraft. I seems to me that clock-like altimeters designed 70 years ago and maintained by watchmakers must be nearing their well-deserved retirement. Bill Daniels "Bert Willing" wrote in message ... Yes, they are. -- Bert Willing ASW20 "TW" "Roy Bourgeois" a écrit dans le message de news: ... This may be a silly question - but are all metric altimeters configured with 'Zero at 6 O'clock' as I saw in France? I did not have trouble converting to meters/kilometers but I did have trouble quickly reading the altimeter with the zero at the bottom of the instrument face (especially on the little 57mm instruments). Just curious. Roy |
#5
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Bill Daniels wrote:
Does it strike some of the digerati here that expensive mechanical altimeters with easily mis-read clock-like hands locked into either the metric or US measurement systems are archaic? No, it doesn't. Most probably because the are not archaic, but still much superior to digital displays, ergonomic wise. Besides, I really appreciated their purely mechanic design when my battery died in flight. Stefan |
#6
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I believe there was some research some years ago, on a similar vein.
The fact seemed to be we "read" clocks almost without thinking. Just the position of the hands "tells us" what the time is (think of 15 mins to 3 o'clock) Maybe the altimeter view works the same, which would also make it more difficult to adjust to, when it isn't mounted to fit our usual expectations. (also makes me question the way electrical switches are down for off and up for on, in opposition to domestic reality, then we go to hand throttle's!) Malcolm... "Bill Daniels" wrote in message ... Does it strike some of the digerati here that expensive mechanical altimeters with easily mis-read clock-like hands locked into either the metric or US measurement systems are archaic? GPS provides highly accurate, although not ATC compliant, altitude. Various vendors provide electronic pressure altimeters with digital displays that can be switched between meters and feet with the push of a button. Digital pressure altitude sensors drive the "glass cockpits" of new GA aircraft. I seems to me that clock-like altimeters designed 70 years ago and maintained by watchmakers must be nearing their well-deserved retirement. Bill Daniels "Bert Willing" wrote in message ... Yes, they are. -- Bert Willing ASW20 "TW" "Roy Bourgeois" a écrit dans le message de news: ... This may be a silly question - but are all metric altimeters configured with 'Zero at 6 O'clock' as I saw in France? I did not have trouble converting to meters/kilometers but I did have trouble quickly reading the altimeter with the zero at the bottom of the instrument face (especially on the little 57mm instruments). Just curious. Roy |
#7
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On Wed, 24 Aug 2005 11:25:51 -0600, "Bill Daniels"
wrote: Does it strike some of the digerati here that expensive mechanical altimeters with easily mis-read clock-like hands locked into either the metric or US measurement systems are archaic? GPS provides highly accurate, although not ATC compliant, altitude. Various vendors provide electronic pressure altimeters with digital displays that can be switched between meters and feet with the push of a button. Digital pressure altitude sensors drive the "glass cockpits" of new GA aircraft. I seems to me that clock-like altimeters designed 70 years ago and maintained by watchmakers must be nearing their well-deserved retirement. How many times have you praised yourself for having instruments on board that do not need electricity to work properly? I did that dozens of times - electricity is definitely not a reliable thing in gliders. Bye Andreas |
#8
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Whatever technology is behind the panel (analog or digital), the human
interface for instruments where trends and relative magnitude are important then the "analog style" gauge is far superior to a digital readout. It is easily discerned for ballpark, trends up or down, and actual value rather precisely. So for airspeed indicators, varios, and the like, the "analog style" interface is the way to go. For battery voltage levels, radio frequencies, etc. where precision is more important than trends or "ballpark" then a digital readout is just the ticket. Regards, Larry "Bill Daniels" wrote in message : Does it strike some of the digerati here that expensive mechanical altimeters with easily mis-read clock-like hands locked into either the metric or US measurement systems are archaic? GPS provides highly accurate, although not ATC compliant, altitude. Various vendors provide electronic pressure altimeters with digital displays that can be switched between meters and feet with the push of a button. Digital pressure altitude sensors drive the "glass cockpits" of new GA aircraft. I seems to me that clock-like altimeters designed 70 years ago and maintained by watchmakers must be nearing their well-deserved retirement. Bill Daniels "Bert Willing" wrote in message ... Yes, they are. -- Bert Willing ASW20 "TW" "Roy Bourgeois" a écrit dans le message de news: ... This may be a silly question - but are all metric altimeters configured with 'Zero at 6 O'clock' as I saw in France? I did not have trouble converting to meters/kilometers but I did have trouble quickly reading the altimeter with the zero at the bottom of the instrument face (especially on the little 57mm instruments). Just curious. Roy |
#9
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"Andreas Maurer" wrote in message ... How many times have you praised yourself for having instruments on board that do not need electricity to work properly? I did that dozens of times - electricity is definitely not a reliable thing in gliders. Bye Andreas This amazes me. Electricity not reliable? I know this is "conventional wisdom" but, I have never had an electronic device fail in flight but many, many mechanical instruments have failed me. In fact, even when an electronic device seemed to fail, it was always a mechanical switch or battery contact that failed and not the device itself. (Hint: Use the best electrical hardware money can buy.) I sit here typing on an incredibly complex device called a Personal Computer. The CPU alone has over 10 million transistors in it. If the PC ever fails, the reason will almost certainly be the mechanical hard drive. If the power grid fails to provide electricity, the UPS will keep it running long enough for a graceful shutdown. In just the last month, we have had a mechanical altimeter fail. The only way we knew was that it couldn't be set to local field elevation. We had an airspeed indicator fail to work at all. I had mechanical altimeter suddenly lose 2000 feet as it became unstuck. The Winter mechanical vario in one glider spends most of the time stuck at +10 Kts. so we rely on the only reliable one - the Cambridge L-Nav. (If I ask, "Why the mechanical vario", I hear, "For backup".) Mechanical instruments are neither rugged nor reliable. Mike Borgelt makes an excellent case for using his B40 with it's internal 9V battery as a backup. Unlike the Winter, it has audio even while running on the internal battery. As for readability, I don't think you will find a "three hand" altimeter in an airliner anymore. They have had drum-type digital displays since sometime in the 1960's. Many studies have shown the digital readout is harder to mis-read. Although, today these are likely to be just the back-up to the digital "glass cockpit". Bill Daniels |
#10
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Bill Daniels wrote:
This amazes me. Electricity not reliable? I know this is "conventional wisdom" but, I have never had an electronic device fail in flight but many, I had the battery fail twice on me: During my first 300km flight and during my second 300km flight. Which meant that I had done two successful 300km flights without GPS and acoustic vario, but none of them was logged. :-P Stefan |
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