Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The dial on the right side displays the set ground atmospheric pressure, which can be adjusted with the knob on the bottom left. Thus, this altimeter is displaying an altitude of 10,180 feet with a ground pressure of 29.92 inHg. The stripes at the bottom are fully concealed at 15,000 feet and above and fully visible at 10,000 feet and below.
The greater the altitude, the lower the pressure. When a barometer is supplied with a nonlinear calibration so as to indicate altitude, the instrument is a type of altimeter called a pressure altimeter or barometric altimeter. A pressure altimeter is the altimeter found in most aircraft, and skydivers use wrist-mounted versions for similar ...
The altimeter setting used is the ISA sea level pressure of 1013 hPa or (29.92 inHg). The actual surface pressure will vary from this at different locations and times. Therefore, by using a standard pressure setting, every aircraft has the same altimeter setting, and vertical clearance can be maintained during cruise flight. [1]
SPS/STD - 'Standard Pressure Setting' or just 'Standard' refers to the altimeter being set to the standard pressure of 1013.25 hPa. It is the setting that causes an altimeter to read the aircraft's flight level (FL). Flight levels are given in hundreds of feet (for example: FL100 = 10 000 ft). Atmospheric pressure changes over time and position.
A barometric altimeter, used along with a topographic map, can help to verify one's location. It is more reliable, and often more accurate, than a GPS receiver for measuring altitude; the GPS signal may be unavailable, for example, when one is deep in a canyon, or it may give wildly inaccurate altitudes when all available satellites are near the horizon.
When flying at a flight level, the altimeter is always set to standard pressure (29.92 inHg or 1013.25 hPa). On the flight deck, the definitive instrument for measuring altitude is the pressure altimeter, which is an aneroid barometer with a front face indicating distance (feet or metres) instead of atmospheric pressure.
Typical usages are as a basis for pressure altimeter calibrations, aircraft performance calculations, aircraft and rocket design, ballistic tables, and meteorological diagrams." [1] For example, the U.S. Standard Atmosphere derives the values for air temperature, pressure, and mass density, as a function of altitude above sea level.
Old altimeters were typically limited to displaying the altitude when set between 950 mb and 1030 mb. Standard pressure, the baseline used universally, is 1013.25 hectopascals (hPa), which is equivalent to 1013.25 mb or 29.92 inches of mercury (inHg).