Have you ever needed to look a word up in a dictionary in a hurry (it only ever happens when you are in a hurry) - and found yourself fascinated by four other non-essential word-definitions?
I encountered, and found myself distracted by these facts in similar circumstances; all the while pretending of course, that glider pilots probably really do need to know this stuff.
How far can you see at sea, from a particular height?
| Height in Feet | Visibility in Miles |
|---|---|
| 5 | 2.9 |
| 20 | 5.9 |
| 50 | 9.3 |
| 100 | 13.2 |
| 500 | 29.5 |
| 1000 | 41.0 |
| 2000 | 58.9 |
| 3000 | 72.1 |
| 4000 | 83.3 |
| 5000 | 93.1 |
| 20000 | 186.0 |
And as late as the 1940s It seems British people needed to know how to convert their Statute Miles to:-
| An English nautical mile | x 1.152 |
| The French Kilometre | x 0.621 |
| The Russian Verst | x 0.663 |
| The Swiss stunde | x 2.98 |
| The Dutch Ure | x 3.458 |
| The German mile | x 4.61 |
| The Danish mile | x 4.682 |
| The Austrian mile | x 4.714 |
| The Swedish mile | x 6.644 |
| The Norwegian mile | x 7.081 |