Oh Canada 
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The canadians also use the metric system? Also the English speaking Canadians?
Since the 70’s I believe is when we converted over… Things are universal in Canada But for key things like gas mileage, purchasing meat and some other items, body weight and height etc there are still may of us that think and stick with the old imperial. I was in grade 8 for the change over so both are quite familiar to me.
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Yea I am just reading metrication in Canada on Wikipedia. Must be a cool and funny world… water temperature in fahrenheit and air temperature in celsius…
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Well as someone approaching 61 I am likely not the best indicator of how versed the young people are and if they are fully immersed. I think if I said imperial measures they might look at me thinking it was something from a video game…but its funny when I saw the picture I thought oh a shot from Canada… looks like the prairies… taking that sign as a cue…
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And the ‘Eterna’ version with a tiny bit of diffuse or sharpen to add bloom (diffusing the image, merging in addition mode, with a mask on the output Jz channel to lessen the effect for the darker tones - the development history is embedded in the image).
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I think the US is the only English speaking country fully using the imperial system. The Brits seem to use miles sometimes, but that’s it (?)
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I’ve not been to the UK but after watching way too many hours of the BBC / ITV it appears English / Metric units get used pretty much at the speaker’s discretion. I’ve heard them (very) mixed within the same conversations at times.
Then again, I’m not British, so maybe I’m just uniformed.
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It’s an “older” picture, right?* Well, I went in a slightly different direction:
crw_0006.crw.arp (12.0 KB)
Kodak Ektachrome 100 film simulation with a bit of foreground DOF blur, vignette and even further skewed blues.
* I had a Digital Rebel XT (350D), so only one model newer than this camera. Then again, that was my last DSLR before the one I’m using now (850D). Needless to say I don’t buy much gear…
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Regarding weights & measures - the UK is a mess… for many various reasons including even today vocal groups actively against metrication and politicians using it as a topic for distraction and chest thumping.
Industrial Revolution
During the Industrial Revolution - metrication was allowed (mostly) and was signed into law as valid weights and measures for all purposes back in 1896 (though not mandatory). Metrication trickled into use across many domains including some commerce.
To standardize weights & measures across the Commonwealth the UK initiated the metrication process (1960-70s) with the other Commonwealth countries like Australia, & New Zealand etc. However, never fully completed the process; whereas, Australia and New Zealand did. The EU required all member states to have metric but could also include local weights and measures on goods for sale. So most shop price tags include metric and some include both sets of units.
One step forward - one step back.
From: Metrication in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia
With the departure of the UK from the European Union … is no longer bound by EU regulations for commerce … the government would be reviewing UK rules requiring metric weights on most goods for sale.
Regarding the young’uns…
From: Metrication in the United Kingdom - Wikipedia
The year 1988 saw the introduction, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland of the National Curriculum, in which SI is the principal system of measurement and calculation.[citation needed]
But if units are your thing - become a pilot - they get to use ALL of them!
There is even an official document.
- Altitude = Feet
- Distance (long) = Nautical miles
- Distance (short) = Meters
- Distance (v.short) = Inches
- Distance (visibility) = Kilometers.
- Speed = Knots
- Fuel stored = Liters
- Fuel used = Gallons/hr
- Charts = Degrees True N
- Direction = Degrees Magnetic
- Time (reporting) = GMT
- Time (other) = local
Some countries have non-ICAO units for local flying activities like Germany & China where Altitude, and Speed, are metric.
Oh the fun…
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Technically I’m a pilot – or was. I got my US private VFR ticket in 1988 (or was it 1989?) through Civil Air Patrol (USAF civilian auxiliary). Although in many respects my instructors taught me to IFR standards, I never got IFR rated. I think I had a grant total of about 103 hours when I kinda drifted away from flying. It wasn’t that I wanted to move away from it but I just kind of ran out of hours in the day for flying + life. So I just barely got started.
One interesting aspect is that flying – and the little bit of (hobbyist level) programming I did – were two of the most in-the-moment concentration-demanding activities I’ve experienced. In each moment, I had to be totally involved. At first it was challenging but as I gained ability it became more fun.
Anyway, to the best of my recollection, here are the differences in the US version – at least what I encountered:
- Distance (short) = Feet
- Distance (visibility) = Miles
- Fuel stored = Gallons
…anyway #2 – No intent to drag the thread (more) OT so I’ll stop now.
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I almost completed my ultralight pilot’s license. But then my second child was born, and anyways there was some kerfuffle with my flying school and flight instructor…
Anyways, German ultralight pilots are entirely metric. But commercial pilots are not, as far as I know.
I agree. One of my most fascinating memories of flight training was my first radio operation: all I had to do was say one silly sentence on the radio while turning into final approach. But I was so task saturated that it took me several tries just to utter the few words. I had never before experienced anything like it.
I am now a professional programmer, so go figure 
.
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Never had anything to do with flying (unless you count my small drone…) but I relate to that… I recently did a one day course to upgrade my driver’s licence to a heavy vehicle class - and boy was it intense!
I concluded it had to be to fit into one day, but there were times where the simplest task like turning on an indicator became really hard as I was thinking about so many aspects of driving a large and completely unfamiliar vehicle.
Probably pales in comparison to flying but similar experience for me.
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For me personally the biggest ‘difference’ in flying (to any other “vehicle” operation) is, it’s an environment in 3 dimensions (plus speed and other things) so everything you do in one dimension affects at least one of the others. For example:
- Nose up = speed down = less lift = glide shortened
- Power up = speed up = altitude gain
- Turn = altitude lost
- Nose down = speed gain = extra lift = glide extended
…and so on. When doing any one thing, you must be aware of the side effects and allow for them. Since you can’t pull over on Cloud 9 to figure it out, you have to stay ahead of the game.
All in all, it’s not so much difficult, per se, as much as it just requires practice. I once saw a plaque that read “Flying is not inherently dangerous as much as it is unforgiving of inattention and carelessness.”
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A british measurement I find funny that’s still used is “stone”. I got nothing against it but as it seems to be mostly used to measure body weight, it can have an extra comedic effect to someone not used to it 
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BTU is as British as it gets
the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit
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Even more when the GP asking your weight has no idea what you mean when you use kg… (“…kg? What’s that in stone?” “Stone???” “Alright, get on the scales”)
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Ah OK, I’ve found a way to make it even more British:
the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of Worcestershire sauce by one degree Fahrenheit
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Ah, but does Worcestershire sauce have the same thermal mass as water?
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Make it Guinness beer, then. 
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