JP256 wrote:With my 85 mph cruise, 95 mph max speed 7ECA, I'm highly tempted to report everything in Km/hr. Cruising at 137 Kph and maxing out at 153 Kph just SOUNDS so much better!

aftCG wrote:

JP256 wrote:With my 85 mph cruise, 95 mph max speed 7ECA, I'm highly tempted to report everything in Km/hr. Cruising at 137 Kph and maxing out at 153 Kph just SOUNDS so much better!

Why that's 139 ft/sec!

dogpilot wrote:We have two different uses for the speed being discussed here. One being airspeed for landing taking off and such and one for navigation, Frankly for landing, you could have anything indicated MPH, NMPH, KPH, kwatloos or whatever. Personally I prefer Rods and Furlongs. Just as long as the speed references something indicated, all well and good. Helps if it happens to be what the TC calls out for, less discussion with FAA types.

If your talking navigation, then Knots rule. I more or less had this beaten into me during University times. I was actually in the military at UCLA, such an honor, due to a now illegal draft law that only subject males to the punishment. I digress, I had to take a very long class in navigation, 6 units (normal class like Chem was 4). We had to learn all the form of navigating, from using a stick and the sun to celestial and early forms of SatNav. The ultimate test, Midshipman 1st Class Wallace was assigned to the USS Blue Ridge as the Asst Navigator. Which basically meant I did the nav from San Diego to Sydney, Australia in a very slow amphibious ship across the Pacific. Of course the skipper was not a fool, I was assisted by 8 Quartermasters. Every hour we shot the sun, stars or DR'd our position. All quite easy with the Nautical mile. No conversions or wiz wheels required. Naturally this extensive training was repeated in Navy Flight School, so it was even more re-enforced. I did actually find continent of Australia (thank god it's big), along with several miserable islands and atolls in the the South Pacific. Kwajalein, what a place. It has a real backcountry airport right down the middle of what passes for a town there. Based on this summer long cruise, I would strike the South Pacific off your bucket list, lots of waaaaay better places to go.

So those of you with extensive spare time can get copies of Bowditch's "The American Practical Navigator." More or less the bible of navigation, only around 2,000 pages in the two volumes of fascinating history of navigation, how nearly every form works and so on right up to modern SatNav systems. Yes I still have mine. All your questions can be answered there and more.

I forgot to add: The Navy had ceased to teach a bunch of what was taught to us, like celestial and many of the other forms of navigation due to it being perceived as obsolete. Well since then in the last two years. They had a collision or two, a couple of groundings and such along with GPS not always being what it is supposed to be due to bad actors. They have re-introduced the curriculum to all officers. I think they may be on to something.