Vertical speed converter
Converts climb and descent rates: ft/min, m/s, m/min, and ft/s.
500 ft/min is 2.54 m/s.
- Input
Provenance
- Computed by
- units.vertical-speed.convert 1.0.0, core 0.1.0
- Model
- Exact unit definitions
- Accuracy
- Exact to double precision: each conversion is one correctly rounded ratio of exact definitions
- Notes
- None
- Cites
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), NIST Special Publication 811; International Civil Aviation Organization, Annex 5 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Units of Measurement to be Used in Air and Ground Operations
Something look off?
How we got thisFormula, worked example, sources, and proof
Model: Exact unit definitions
Accuracy: Exact to double precision: each conversion is one correctly rounded ratio of exact definitions
When to use this: Use this for a rate of climb or descent that has to cross systems: an instrument or a clearance in feet per minute against a performance figure or a glider variometer in metres per second. Keep the sign -- a descent is a negative climb -- and the direction comes through the conversion with it.
Limitations: This is a vertical rate, not a horizontal one, and knots are deliberately not offered: a climb rate in knots is almost always a ground speed misread. Nothing here knows about air or ground: an indicated rate of climb is what the instrument reads in the air mass it is in, and a rate through a descending air mass is not a rate over the ground. Converting a rate does not convert a gradient either -- a feet-per-nautical-mile figure needs a speed as well, which the slope converter is for.
Worked example: 500 ft/min in m/s. Source: Exact unit definitions (NIST SP 811 Appendix B). It is golden test vector v001, and every build checks the tool still gives its answer within its tolerance.
You enter
- To unit
- m/s
- Value
- 500 ft/min
You get
- Converted
- 2.54 m/s
- Input
- 500 ft/min
Review: Not yet independently reviewed by a metrologist.
Last verified: 2026-09-18, when a maintainer last confirmed this tool's sources at the issuer. See the sources ledger.
Status: version 1.0.0, core 0.1.0. See this tool in the verification report.
Checked against: 22 golden test vectors (download the test vectors, each with its source and tolerance). See how results are checked and every source.
Sources
- Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (SI), NIST Special Publication 811, National Institute of Standards and Technology, 2008 edition. Appendix B.8, Factors for units listed alphabetically.
- Annex 5 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Units of Measurement to be Used in Air and Ground Operations, International Civil Aviation Organization, 5th edition. Chapter 3 and Table 3-3. Paid only.