Metric or Imperial

There has been threads on this before but I have to ask if it is better to set all to metric as I am not sure which planes if any use the imperial measurements?

I created a mission with AI and noticed their callouts didn't register with mine. When they called out @2000, I noticed I was at 600, and I set their speed to 500, I had to be at 920 to keep up. A little confused so would like any comment to help.

Cheers

There is no right or wrong on this. Whether metric or imperial setting is better totally depends on the plane you are flying. All the US aircraft use imperial measurement, while all the russian aircraft use the metric system. The europeans are inbetween. Pretty much all modern european NATO jets use the imperial system (e.g. the Mirage 2000), while older and/or non-NATO aircraft (german WW2 birds or the Viggen) use the metric system.

Thanks for that QuiGon.

the problem is that on us planes whether you set settings on metri you'll always have hud in imperial, as well as BRA from awacs which are always in imperial.

It's worth pointing out that aviation and naval navigation work best when utilising nautical miles and latitudes and longitude. combined with angles it's all derived from historical naval navigation methods

There's a reason that lat long refers to minutes and seconds too

This allows us to use things like the 1 in 60 rule for angles and nautical miles of offset or error.

The space between latitude lines is 60nm per degree such that one minute of lat is 1 nm

Basic distance travelled or position estimation. 360 knots is 6nm a minute

Or 6 minutes of latitude per minute

So on so forth

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Yes and no jimiC. Military are using MGRS for geographic positions, and that's what DCS is for mainly. Latitude and Longitudes in degrees are for civilian air navigation. Granted that MGRS is a lot less obvious than lat/long.

Mgrs is used for ground based military coordination yes as it's the preferred system for land based activity

That fits into the decimal based system that ground forces use for navigation and grid references including mils for angular measurement.

This is why modern western aircraft have the ability to utilise mgrs in data entry for ground based coordination

They still however use knots for speed nm for distance and degrees for angle and feet for altitude as it's far more practical when traveling large distances and high speeds

Mgrs has certain limitations when you start talking about this sort of scale

Nautical units of measurement are not just used in civilian space

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There has been threads on this before but I have to ask if it is better to set all to metric as I am not sure which planes if any use the imperial measurements?

Every single country in the world uses imperial for aviation except Russia, China, and North Korea. And Russia has mostly switched to imperial by 2018.

Every single country in the world uses imperial for aviation except Russia, China, and North Korea. And Russia has mostly switched to imperial by 2018.

However every Russian jet in DCS will be metric - because we won't see aircraft from this decade in DCS from Russia until our grandchildren are playing.

To the OP - I set to Metric if in a Metric aircraft (generally the Viggen) because then my map marks are metric.

i think it would be better that we could set

imperial or metric settings for every aircraft in the special option folder ...

and one general option for the missioneditor ...

i say only L-39 :(

Every single country in the world uses imperial for aviation except Russia, China, and North Korea. And Russia has mostly switched to imperial by 2018.

Interesting. I haven't heard that russia switched to the imperial system last year and can't find anything about it online. Could you give me a source for this? :)

i think it would be better that we could set

imperial or metric settings for every aircraft in the special option folder ...

 

and one general option for the missioneditor ...

 

i say only L-39 :(

Please don't, as this would be very unrealistic for most aircraft, because in reality they usally only use one type of instrumentation.

sorry for missunderstanding:

i did not mean the gauges (except the L-39) ...

i mean the normal information in radio calls and the external views ...

by default it should be the value of the airplanes installation

if i flew a SU-27 i do not want see feet and knots in the external view

ok i belive Awacs gave me km and m in their russian calls ...

and if i fly a F-15c and have metric settings for ME i will see knots and miles/feet in external views

which type of values gave Awacs or JTAC to a Viggen pilot ?

there are differencie available

hope for clearance

and yes, you are right ...

we need a special option only for planes with changeable gauges like the L-39

Oh, alright then :)

There is indeed no way for the status bar to switch automatically between metric and imperial systems, depending on the aircraft.

This has been very interesting to read all your comments. The wealth of knowledge shared has been very helpful.

Interesting. I haven't heard that russia switched to the imperial system last year and can't find anything about it online. Could you give me a source for this? :)

Russia is using Imperial for aviation. At least when you cruise through their airspace.

Please don't, as this would be very unrealistic for most aircraft, because in reality they usally only use one type of instrumentation.

Incorrect - basically any aircraft with glass cockpits can switch between imperial and metric at will, and pilots flying internationally are trained to use both. If you're an airliner flying through Chinese airspace, you'll switch your systems from imperial to metric and fly at the metric altitudes given, then switch back to imperial when you exit their airspace.

Even many gauges are marked with both standards, just like speedos in cars that show both mph and km/h. Although this is not the norm.

Incorrect - basically any aircraft with glass cockpits can switch between imperial and metric at will, and pilots flying internationally are trained to use both. If you're an airliner flying through Chinese airspace, you'll switch your systems from imperial to metric and fly at the metric altitudes given, then switch back to imperial when you exit their airspace.

 

 

Even many gauges are marked with both standards, just like speedos in cars that show both mph and km/h. Although this is not the norm.

That would apply to civilian airliners and maybe some modern combat aircraft, but I was referring to the aircraft we have in DCS now and will likely get in the future. Those are mostly older types of combat aircraft that have fixed instrumentation.

I love metric system but english language + Russian icons on the map :-)

Some people said numbers are just numbers and not important but damn i like my kilometres.

While metric is much more logical than imperial, it isn't that hard to calculate.

Rather easy if you only need ballpark values. NM/KTS = KM x 2 (1 NM/KT is 1.8KM). FT = M / 3 (1 FT = 0.3 M or 30 CM).

I love metric system but english language + Russian icons on the map

+1

That would apply to civilian airliners and maybe some modern combat aircraft, but I was referring to the aircraft we have in DCS now

Sorry - I misunderstood you, as you did not specify that you were referring only to DCS.

As a Metricist (?) I can appreciate the utility of the imperial system for navigation. Its hexadecimal, as is our (native) mesurement of time and circles and imperial measurement - base 12, has more factors than metic - base 10, so it makes sense. Also, our brains work with hexadecimal better for some reason, like with currency I've heard that you can learn and calculate change faster with a hexadecimal than a decimal, eg. pounds vs dollars. Makes sense to me that its easier to calculate navigation stuff in hex, like pounds of fuel per minute per mile at X knots at angels rah...

Soviets understand my need for metric units so i fly their planes and helcopter only in DCS.

As a Metricist (?) I can appreciate the utility of the imperial system for navigation. Its hexadecimal, as is our (native) mesurement of time and circles and imperial measurement - base 12, has more factors than metic - base 10, so it makes sense. Also, our brains work with hexadecimal better for some reason, like with currency I've heard that you can learn and calculate change faster with a hexadecimal than a decimal, eg. pounds vs dollars. Makes sense to me that its easier to calculate navigation stuff in hex, like pounds of fuel per minute per mile at X knots at angels rah...

Just a short nitpick:

You mean duodecimal (base 12) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal

not hexadecimal (base 16) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal

Just a short nitpick:

You mean duodecimal (base 12) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal

 

not hexadecimal (base 16) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal

thank you! had that crosswired in my head