MPH vs Ft/Sec

[MagicLou 0]

I was reading on the Alti-2 website that the new software release for the Neptune Altimeter was going to record in MPH instead of Ft/Sec. due to requests from users.

Personally, I would prefer to use Ft/Sec. as virtually everything in Aviation uses Ft/Sec and is a much more relevant unit of measurement. (Seeing as Freefall lasts seconds not hours and Rate of Climb on Aircraft is in Ft/Sec. etc.)

Lou
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. . . now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb - Dark Helmet

[indyz 1]

I'd like both but if I had to choose only one I'd pick MPH, because that is what most skydivers use when comparing their speed and is what most jumpers leave their Pro Tracks set to.

[kallend 1,621]

Quote

I was reading on the Alti-2 website that the new software release for the Neptune Altimeter was going to record in MPH instead of Ft/Sec. due to requests from users.

Personally, I would prefer to use Ft/Sec. as virtually everything in Aviation uses Ft/Sec and is a much more relevant unit of measurement. (Seeing as Freefall lasts seconds not hours and Rate of Climb on Aircraft is in Ft/Sec. etc.)

Well, knots for speeds, nautical miles for distances, feet for altitudes, and ft/minute for rate of climb/descent are the common aviation units in the USA.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[MagicLou 0]

I stand corrected

So ft/min or knots would be more appropriate than MPH.

Lou
___________________________________
. . . now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb - Dark Helmet

[CrazyThomas 0]

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So ft/min or knots would be more appropriate than MPH.

more like MKS units are appropriate. unless it is strictly for USA skydivers, meters/second may be a good unit. I think that is what most physics applications use for calculations, although I think conversions can be done. It just depends on what you are trying to get at with your numbers.


Thomas

p.s. this is prolly all wrong too, you know, someone needs to step in and what was it......"caveat my remarks" ? prolly got that wrong too

[quade 3]

I think the most universally accepted would be MPH (KPH) since that is the scale of speeds most people are used to dealing with in their normal everyday lives.

Tell me, when was the last time you drove down a street and the speed limit was posted in feet per second?

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[Nightingale 0]

that's why I like MPH.

Its familiar.

I can do okay with MPH or even KPH, but throw feet per second at me and I'm going "um... how many feet are in a mile again??" just to find a similar frame of reference

[KrisFlyZ 0]

For freefall speed I like MPH. Under canopy ft/sec. Yes I have an Alti-2 Neptune.
You can always convert 1MPH = 5280/3600 ft/s ~= 1.5 ft/sec.

[sdgregory 0]

I picked ft./sec because as an engineering student I think in these terms more often than I do others.

[DJL 232]

I wish we'd just change to the metric system. But, my vote is meters per second.

"I encourage all awesome dangerous behavior." - Jeffro Fincher

[sdgregory 0]

I agree with you there but I do not see that happening anytime soon.

[MagicLou 0]

Quote

I think the most universally accepted would be MPH (KPH) since that is the scale of speeds most people are used to dealing with in their normal everyday lives.

Tell me, when was the last time you drove down a street and the speed limit was posted in feet per second?

Familiarity is certainly a good reason to use a unit of measurement, however, I normally drive my car more than a few thousand feet at a time.

My personal philosophy, is to look at the things I do out of habit and reevaluate them to determine if there is a better way of doing them.

In Canada we adopted the metric system in the 80s, maybe now is a good time to suggest that we change all of the posted speed limits to m/s.

Lou
___________________________________
. . . now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb - Dark Helmet

[Nightingale 0]

hehehe...

when we were in Alberta, right across the border, my dad sees a sign... "Speed Limit 80"

he says "80 miles per hour! nifty!" and hits the gas. I'm in the front seat, grabbing onto the arm rest shouting "Daddy! That's KILOMETERS!"

He hits the breaks, looks over at me and says "oh. thanks."

[FLYBERT71 0]

Sir I'm sorry but I clocked you at 110 FPS in a 88 FPS zone. I'm going to have to give you a ticket.

"If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive."
Josh Whipple 7/15/70-2/10/05

[MagicLou 0]

Quote

hehehe...

when we were in Alberta, right across the border, my dad sees a sign... "Speed Limit 80"

he says "80 miles per hour! nifty!" and hits the gas. I'm in the front seat, grabbing onto the arm rest shouting "Daddy! That's KILOMETERS!"

He hits the breaks, looks over at me and says "oh. thanks."

Try explaining that to a COP

Lou
___________________________________
. . . now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb - Dark Helmet

[jeremyneas 0]

No way, I had to do that stupid conversion from Ft/s to MPH when the Skytronic Pro came out...it's my time baby!!!! Pro-Track keeps that damn calculator at home.

Quite honestly, the only time i look at it is when i report to my tandem student how fast we've gone. They like that cool stuff, without the calculation.