An open letter to British people.

[alexr_rwx]

People of the United Kingdom,

It's come to my attention that in aerospace engineering contexts, you may be using a different set of reference axes for discussing space. And I say unto you, verily -- right, up, and forward are positive. Please correct any practices you might be employing that describe "down" with positive numbers. To do otherwise would be unconscionable, especially in light of our shared cultural heritage with respect to such fundamental concepts as positivity.

Thanks in advance,

--
-- alexr

Comments

Re: stupid klaus!

[(Anonymous)]

Right; for flight dynamics we use the British nomenclature. (I mean, would you really want the weight of your aircraft to be negative?) But for things like structures analyses we still use standard axes while the British in their empirical wisdom continue with the z-positive-down business. An endearingly quaint practice to be sure, but it just ain't American.