Boeing 777 departing Dubai nearly had a major incident after takeoff (onemileatatime.com)

Article summary

An Emirates Boeing 777 departing Dubai had a near-miss incident after takeoff, where the crew failed to set the altitude to 4,000 feet, resulting in the plane barely gaining altitude and flying at a low height over residential areas. The incident is being investigated by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The pilots have been suspended or possibly fired. The airline has sent a memo to pilots reminding them to set the altitude correctly after landing or shutdown.

Main themes

• aviation safety
• unit conversion
• maritime navigation
• international standards
• historical context
• pilot training

What commenters say

• The use of knots in aviation is due to historical reasons and its roots in maritime navigation, where it was convenient for calculations.
• Changing international standards to use metric units would be difficult and potentially lead to accidents during the transition.
• The use of knots is not ambiguous and is clearly distinguished from ground speed, which is also reported in knots.
• The metric system has its own historical inaccuracies, such as the original definition of the meter, but has since been formalized to avoid such errors.
• Aviation inherited many navigation techniques and units from maritime navigation, including the use of knots and feet for altitude.
• Some countries use different units, such as meters for altitude, but the majority of the world uses feet.
• The incident highlights the importance of following procedures and double-checking settings to avoid accidents.