International Aviation…US System of Measure vs. Metric. English Language/Entry requirements.

3 Answers

1. 
   

   
   

   Kent Shook on Jan 08, 2011

   AOPA has a fair amount of information on flying internationally.
    
   I think that there are different countries that use Meters and Feet. I believe a lot of Europe uses Flight Levels all the way to the ground.
    
   I think that languages can be either the native language, or English. With English you can go anywhere in the world.
    
   As for the flying – As a US pilot, you can fly a US airplane (N-registered) anywhere in the world. For that reason, many pilots from overseas who train in the US will buy an N-registered airplane using a US-based trust. It’s very difficult to get an instrument rating in most countries, so doing this helps pilots to fly instruments legally. 
    
   Unfortunately, I have zero experience with this stuff so far, except what I’ve heard from friends. But, here’s where you should start for more info:
    
   http://www.icao.int/
   http://www.aopa.org/members/pic/intl/

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2. 
   

   
   

   Wesley Beard on Jan 09, 2011

   Most of the rest of the world uses the metric system instead of the US system.  In most TAA (technically advanced aircraft), there is a setting you can use to switch the altimeter to read meters instead of feet.  At the same time, the altimeter setting goes from inches of mercury to hectopascals.  (29.92 to 1013).
    
   To make matters worse, some countries don’t base their altitudes on MSL.  They base them on AGL or some other reference point.  You might hear terms like QNH, QNE, QFE.  QNH is just like our system with the altimeter reading our MSL height.  QNE is like our flight levels reading pressure altitude (29.92 or 1013) and QFE is reading the AGL height.  It is crucially important to know what setting you are being given at any one point.
    
   In Europe, the flight levels are different than in the United States.  There is usually a hard Transition Altitude meaning as you climb higher than this altitude, you are to switch to using flight levels.  There is usually a soft transition level meaning ATC will assign an altitude for you to switch to the local altimeter setting.  I have never seen a flight level go all the way to the ground before.
    
   All ICAO supporting countries mandate english to be spoken.  So any country that you travel in, you will be able to get a weather briefing in english and talk with ATC in english.  ATC can speak their native tongue to other pilots, but this doesn’t allow for good situational awareness with pilots who don’t speak that language.  Also you figure in the cost for contacting a weather briefer and ATC services.  Most other countries make the pilots pay for those services.  Flight plans in most countries use the ICAO flight plan, the US accepts these plans but they prefer their own flight plan.  You can download an ICAO flight plan form from either the FAA or ICAO websites.
    
   If you want to fly international, you must do your homework.  I believe Canada requires you to contact them 1hr before the flight takes off so you can go through customs and such.  It is that way with coming back into the United States.  Flying into Mexico and you don’t have to contact them before entering their country.  AOPA has some great information about it.  Unfortunately, there is very little in the FAR’s about it.  The FAR’s have countries listed where N registered airplanes cannot fly though.

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3. 
   

   
   

   Jeremy on Jan 10, 2011

   Note that meters for altitude are only used in the countries formerly influenced by the Soviet bloc – Eastern Europe, former USSR republics, and of course Russia itself.  Everywhere else, such as Western Europe, Asia, Oceania, etc, uses feet for altitude along with of course North America.
   What does require conversion however is atmospheric pressure for the QNH, QFE, etc – in many non-US countries this is given in hectopascals instead of milimeters of mercury.  When importing an airplane into Australia, for example, the “altimeter subscale” must be altered to read in hectopascals instead, since that’s the number you will always be given on the ATIS or by ATC, for QNH (pressure at MSL).  They don’t want you fumbling around trying to do the conversion while flying.  A similar conversion is not required for other pressure readouts in the plane: typically engine manifold pressure is still in mmHg in a US-built plane.  That’s because it’s not an issue of communication between you and ATC or other pilots.
   In Australia, despite feet still being used for altitude, and nautical miles for longer distances, meters are used for runway lengths/widths and other airport dimensions like distance between runways.   Any pilot should be familiar with conversions between feet, km, nm, etc.
   Fuel is sold in litres but it in Australia it is allowed to do all your fuel calculations in US gallons, if that’s what your P.O.H. uses – but you’ll have to convert to litres for the actual fueling operation.  Similarly, weight and balance can be done in lbs and inches to match your P.O.H., but a flight school or other operator may convert these to metric (kg and cm) according to their local procedures.  Again you need to be familiar with conversions between lbs and kg, litres and US gallons, and inches and centimeters.  (Note that “imperial” or British gallons are different!  Fortunately they are rarely used.)
   This isn’t meant as official information, just an idea of what you can start researching depending on which countries you’ll be flying in.

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