Thursday, May 10, 2012

Strange report

The latest report about a Russian aircraft 'test-flight' that ended in tragedy is odd:

Twenty-one minutes after takeoff, the crew asked for permission to decline from 3000 metres to 1800 metres, said Daryatmo.

Aviation expresses altitude in feet. And permission to 'descend' is requested; not 'decline'.

Probably just journalistic bumbling.

1 comment:

Kiwiwit said...

Probably just a combination of journalistic ignorance and slavish adherence to converting to metric. The result of the latter is often seen in silly headlines like, 'US Sprinter Breaks 48.28 km/h Barrier,' which of course misses the point.