Maybe don't bag on an entire country without examining your own prejudices. Nautical miles are used in this article by an aviation magazine presumably because

Maybe don't bag on an entire country without examining your own prejudices. Nautical miles are used in this article by an aviation magazine presumably because they are the global standard for marine and aeronautical navigation, and have been since well before the metric system was a global standard. It is also worth noting that the US does not use nautical miles as a standard, they use statute miles. FYI, nautical miles are a useful standard for global navigation since they are referenced to the size of the earth itself.