The Metric System Strikes Again
Posted on October 22, 2007
Filed Under /dev/null/ | 160 views |
In an otherwise absolutely fascinating article about an African guy named Mubarak Muhammad Abdullahi who built his own helicopter from scrap parts the evils of the metric system strike again making the article, at least for me, extremely amusing and a bit pathetic at the same time.
What’s wrong with this picture:
For a four-seater it is a big aircraft, measuring twelve metres (39 feet) long, seven metres high by five wide. It has never attained an altitude of more than seven feet.
To give you a hint, here’s the actual picture:
If we do a proper conversion then the article is claiming that Mubarak’s machine is 39 feet long, 23 feet high, and 16.4 feet wide. To give a sense of proportion the Hummer H2 is 15.7 feet long, 6.8 feet high, and 6.75 feet wide.
Methinks the author may have gotten their meters and feet confused after their initial measurement, unless the helicopter really is as tall as a two-story home and as wide as two Hummer H2s and that fellow in the photo is a freakishly enormous giant.
Mars Orbiter, we remember you fondly.
Comments
Leave a Reply