Request imperial unit MFD

[Cras]

Have background in aviation, and most of what I know of space travel comes from NASA, my brain tends to think better in terms of imperial units.

Could there be an MFD that displays my spacecraft's situation in terms of feet above MSL, feet per second, orbit at NM instead of Km. I see the MFDs that are specific to Shuttle ops, like the GPC in Shuttle Fleet, and Glideslope MFD has displays that show what the situation is in imperial units, but I thought it would be nice to have something a bit more univseral.

 

[Jarvitä]

Have background in aviation, and most of what I know of space travel comes from NASA, my brain tends to think better in terms of imperial units.

Could there be an MFD that displays my spacecraft's situation in terms of feet above MSL, feet per second, orbit at NM instead of Km. I see the MFDs that are specific to Shuttle ops, like the GPC in Shuttle Fleet, and Glideslope MFD has displays that show what the situation is in imperial units, but I thought it would be nice to have something a bit more univseral.

The SI system is 'universal'.

I'm OK with realistic guides for real/historic US and Russian spacecraft, but the generic MFDs and fictional spacecraft should support the SI standard.

You should definitely learn the metric system. It's not that hard, it's completely consistent and geometric, unlike the US system, which is arbitrary, confusing, and only still used by ONE country on Earth.

 

[Moach]

well, [ame="http://www.orbithangar.com/searchid.php?ID=369"]there is...[/ame]


always a crowd-pleaser amongst FSX immigrants

 

[Cras]

The SI system is 'universal'.

I'm OK with realistic guides for real/historic US and Russian spacecraft, but the generic MFDs and fictional spacecraft should support the SI standard.

You should definitely learn the metric system. It's not that hard, it's completely consistent and geometric, unlike the US system, which is arbitrary, confusing, and only still used by ONE country on Earth.

I am not at all interested in turning this into meters v feet argument.

I like to simulate NASA missions, past present, future, and so I want to deal with ops in terms of NMs, feet per second, feet AMSL. I have no problems using the metric system. This is not an issue of getting used to it, this is an issue of preference. I would prefer to use NMs when flying the Space Shuttle, and any other vehicle I choose to simulate being its successor, not Km.

---------- Post added at 08:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 PM ----------

well, there is...


always a crowd-pleaser amongst FSX immigrants

Thanks for the link. I remember coming across this before. This is sort of the line of thinking I am on, but want it more orbital ops rather than atmospheric flight.

 

[Jarvitä]

I am not at all interested in turning this into meters v feet argument.

It's not about meters vs feet. The basic units are both arbitrary, nobody is arguing the opposite. However, the SI system has consistency and is purely geometric in secondary unit scales, whereas the US system is an archaic mess that makes no sense. Nobody should be forced to learn or use it.

 

[Tommy]

If you can do a bit of coding, you should be able to adapt Free Orbit MFD to display in imperial units:

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=5100&highlight=free+orbit+MFD

Other than that, AFAIK you are out of luck.

 

[Cras]

It's not about meters vs feet. The basic units are both arbitrary, nobody is arguing the opposite. However, the SI system has consistency and is purely geometric in secondary unit scales, whereas the US system is an archaic mess that makes no sense. Nobody should be forced to learn or use it.

Man, knock it off. I don't care. Every document and resource I have on NASA missions are in NMs, so I want to use NM when I fly future NASA missions. That is all. I do not care how you hate the imperial system, I DO NOT CARE. So please stop hi-jacking the thread.

All I asked was for something that I can use to fly using feet per second for velocity, and nautical miles for orbit height and distance from the base.

---------- Post added at 10:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:17 PM ----------

If you can do a bit of coding, you should be able to adapt Free Orbit MFD to display in imperial units:

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=5100&highlight=free+orbit+MFD

Other than that, AFAIK you are out of luck.

I have 2 years of C++ back in high school, but I think I will give it a shot. See if I can come up with something. Thanks.

 

[Wishbone]

It is actually a good idea. Should go nicely with the Star Wars add-ons...

 

[Notebook]

Not sure, are NM newton-metres?

N.

 

[C3PO]

Not sure, are NM newton-metres?

N.

No, that would be Nm

 

[Notebook]

Odd thing is I quite liked Imperial Unts, suppose I grew up with it.

Power used to be as 2*Pi *N* T, where N was revolutions per minute and T was in foot-pounds.

Simpler was Omega* T, Omega in radians/second and I think T in Newton/Metres.

I suppose you take your choice....!

Edit: should have divided the first one by 33000 to get Horse Power, I think

N.

 

[PeriapsisPrograde]

The issue isn't so much the units themselves, (in my case) but just familiarity. I have a better exposure to 200 KIAS, than 200ms^-1. I can better react to my descent rate when I see -5000fpm, not -5ms^-1. It's certainly not necessary, but it would be nice.

 

[Cras]

NM= Nautical Miles, the distance it takes to travel one minute of latitude along a meridian.

 

[agentgonzo]

NM= Nautical Miles, the distance it takes to travel one minute of latitude along a meridian.

A nautical mile is actually defined to be exactly 1,852m. The distance of 'one minute of latitude along any meridian' varies from 1,861 metres at the poles to 1,843 metres at the Equator and hence the mean of this variation across the circumference of the earch is 1,852.216m, which is why the nautical mile got standardised to 1,852m.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautical_mile#History