AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2021 - 97

FINALLY!
A CARD
FOR PILOTS.
Detail of a Jeppesen approach chart for Santa Fe's RNAV (GPS) Runway 20 approach. The transition
level and transition altitude are just below the missed approach text instructions. U.S. government
charts don't usually post transition levels and altitudes, probably because in the United States FL180
and 18,000 feet are so common.
These three-letter codes served as a
universal language for conveying short,
important questions and answers. It was
the text messaging of the day and ruled
until voice communications became the
norm. Whether it was travel by ship or
train, Q-codes kept up steady flows of
vital information. They played a part
in aviation history, too. Up through the
World War II years, transport-category
aircrews carried radio operators who
tapped out messages picked up by military
headquarters, airports, and airline
offices.
They aren't exactly intuitive, so they
had to be memorized. For example, QBH
asks " are you flying below cloud? " QCE
internationally. After all, their use is formalized
in International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) procedural documents.
Three of them relate to altimetry:
QFE, QNE, and QNH.
We're most familiar with QNH. This
3%
uses a weather-reporting airport's barometric
pressure. For QNH, the local
atmospheric pressure is measured, corrected
to sea level pressure, and reported
as an altimeter setting. It's the correction
that adjusts for the effects of terrain elevation
and references and standardizes
all altimeter settings to a single datum-
mean sea level. Without the correction
to sea level, altimeter settings would be
skewed to pressures at various elevations
Cash Back1
A CASH BACK1
on
purchases with Select
AOPA Partners2-4
REDEMPTION IS APPLIED AS A STATEMENT CREDIT.
QUARTERLY BONUS POINT CAP OF 2,500 POINTS
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Up through the World War II years, transport-category aircrews carried
radio operators who tapped out messages picked up by military
headquarters, airports, and airline offices.
asks " when can I expect approach clearance? "
QEK asks " are you ready for
immediate takeoff? "
This isn't just a mini-disquisition on
radio arcana. They may seem antiquated
now, and they aren't even mentioned in
the Aeronautical Information Manual,
but a few Q-codes still live on. You
don't much see them in daily use under
VFR operations in the United States,
but they do crop up in IFR documents
and reports-especially if you fly
instead of a common reference pressure.
So, when we see a METAR, or a tower
gives us an altimeter setting, we're getting
QNH, whether it's given in inches of mercury
(inHg), millibars (mb), or hectopascals
(hPa). (Millibars and hectopascals use the
same values, just under different names.)
We dial that setting into our altimeters and
now everyone flying in the general area is
flying along the same reference plane and
at the same indicated altitude. Station pressures
change with fronts and other weather
AOPA PILOT / September 2021
97
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - September 2021