I think most people would recognize ³Kn² in boating, but knots is usually
³KT² in aviation, where probably the most use of the term actually takes
place. It gets shortened further in some other abbreviations, such as KIAS
(knots indicated airspeed), but the aviation weather observations, etc., are
where you will see ³KT² a lot.
This is a relic of the days when they used a teletype to transmit the
weather data, and they needed what we would now call the ³bandwidth² in
order to cram as much traffic as possible down the wires. Today, I would say
your network is in big trouble if you need to keep ³knots² to ³kt.² Of
course, they also type ALL CAPS, SO THEY ARE ALWAYS SHOUTING. But I guess
you can¹t be a government weatherman unless you can sling the arcane
abbreviations. (Check out the rest of an aviation observation or forecast
sometime.*)
In ordinary writing, it doesn¹t benefit you much to shorten the word,
though, since it¹s already a pretty short word, and a lot of lay people
don¹t readily recognize the term behind the abbreviation. I have written for
aviation and marine publications and I always just spell it out, unless it¹s
part of an airplane¹s performance tables, etc.
--Dave Shugarts
* This is the current observation at Dulles Airport as I write: KIAD 290158Z
29009KT 7SM RA BKN034CB BKN080 23/21 A2999 RMK AO2 OCNL LTG DSNT N-S CB DSNT
N-S MOV E P0002 VISNO WEST $. (Translation: bad night, don¹t go there until
the front moves through.) You can see more at
http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/metar.shtml. For any U.S. airport, type a
³K² and the three-letter identifier you are used to. (Somehow, the ³K² here
stands for ³United States.²)
On 6/28/07 10:09 PM, "Joe McCary" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Well, I have a Honda 9.9 and have sailed nearly every weekend this
> spring/summer and several times during the week. I have used about 3 gallons.
> But I suppose that doesn¹t answer your question. I suspect that I have
> motored about 30+ miles. But, the better question would be at what speed? I
> have pushed the motor at different speeds from 3Kn to 6.3Kn. I would warn
> you, when I first pushed the motor at the high speed my auto bilge pump
> siphoned water INTO the cabin. I have since added a check valve (about $5 at
> West marine) and have not had that ³experience² again.
>
> PS, what is the abbreviation for Knots?
>
> Joe McCary
> Aeolus II
> West River, MD
> [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
> On Behalf Of David Techlin
> Subject: catalina27-talk: storage and gas mileage
>
>
> Two questions:
>
>
>
> 2) What kind of gas mileage can I expect pushing my 27 with a 9.9 Merc 4
> stroke ? Planning on a trip this summer, and know I will tick off the wind
> gods and have to do some powering.
>
