QNE, QNH, QFE

M

mikecweb

Well-Known Member
For some reason I can't get these to stick in my head and keep them straight.
Any ideas for how you long haul guys learned and memorized this and where you would know when to set a particular one?
 
Here's the dumb way I remember it:

QNE: 29.92... "Nav Engaged" George should be fully engaged when you are at the QNE levels (transition level is country-specific)

QNH: "Normal Height" (as opposed to pressure heights)

QFE: "Queen of F&$king England" (The Brits use QFE on approaches...I was stationed in England for a few years)
 
I always remember:

QNE - E for "Enroute"
QNH - H for "Home"
QFE - FE for "Field Elevation"

Transition to QNE on the way up at the transition altitude (leaving altitudes), transition back to QNH on the way down at the transition level (leaving flight levels).
 
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QNE seems standard.

QNH is ATIS. We always state QNH or QFE on preflight altimeter checks and through transition on decent

QFE - Queer Flight Engineer (the formal definition as the FE did odd calculations to come up with a random setting, not the colloquial slur)

Anyway, that's how I always remember it.
 
Just remember, if you set QFE, you will always have 0 for your altimeter readout when on the field, no matter what the airport elevation is. Your altimeter reads your height above Field Elevation. the other two have been pretty well explained. It seems QFE is the one that most people have trouble wrapping their heads around, but it really is pretty easy when you get used to it.
 
QFE Atmospheric pressure at a specified datum such as airfield runway threshold. When set, the altimeter reads the height above the specified datum. Runway in use 22 Left, QFE 990 millibars
QFF Atmospheric pressure at a place, reduced to MSL using the actual temperature at the time of observation as the mean temperature.
QNE Atmospheric pressure at sea level in the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA), equal to 1013.25 mbar or hPa and used as reference for measuring the pressure altitude. When Flight Levels are used as an indication of altitude, 1013.25 hPa is used as mean sea level (QNH).
QNH Atmospheric pressure at mean sea level (may be either a local, measured pressure or a regional forecast pressure (RPS)). When set on the altimeter it reads altitude. Request Leeds QNH
 
QFE= Field elevation =zero
QNH= local altimeter setting
QNE= Standard pressure =29.92 (1013)
 
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Also, maybe stated before, but transition altitude is on the way up, transition level is on the way down.
 
KLB said:
Same out of MIA.
Click to expand...
The Caribbean weather channel is hilarious. It's a big Puerto Rican guy standing in the middle of the map and pointing at the different islands.
"30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30, 27 in Martinique, brrrrrr, 30, 30, 30, 30."
 
If anyone cares, the "Q" codes originated back in the day of Morse code.

The Q Code comprises :

General Codes, second letter of which is R, S, T or U. (Some used by Hams).

Maritime Service Codes, second letter of which is O, P or Q.

Aeronautical Codes, second letter of which is A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M or N.

You can find a complete list here:

http://www.la6uoa.net/stuff/List of Q-codes.pdf

Richman
 
UAL747400 said:
Also, maybe stated before, but transition altitude is on the way up, transition level is on the way down.
Click to expand...

When I used to fly in Kuwait back in the day, TA was 3000' and TL was 5000', or FL50. Below those, we were required to set QFE. So climbing past 3000', you switched to QNE, then descending through 50, you went back to QFE. Don't know whether that has changed or not since then, as it's been nearly 20 years.
 
MikeD said:
When I used to fly in Kuwait back in the day, TA was 3000' and TL was 5000', or FL50. Below those, we were required to set QFE. So climbing past 3000', you switched to QNE, then descending through 50, you went back to QFE. Don't know whether that has changed or not since then, as it's been nearly 20 years.
Click to expand...
Kuwait is QNH these days.
 
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