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Old 27th November 2009 | 19:01
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BEagle
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Joined: May 1999
: ATP+Mil
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From: Quite near 'An aerodrome somewhere in England'
Pressure altimeters have 3 main errors (forget the daft RAF 'PITCHBLOT' nonsense):

1. No machine is perfect, so instrument error, lag and hysterisis will affect any such altimeter to a degree.
2. Installing an altimeter in an aircraft will induce certain errors, such as position error and cockpit temperature.
3. Even if both altimeter and installation are 100% perfect (impossible), the atmosphere in which the aircraft is flying probably isn't 100% International Standard Atmosphere, to which the altimeter is calibrated.

These errors may be additive or subtractive - but they will always be there.

A good pressure altimeter is probably accurate to ±30 ft - but that also assumes that the pressure setting datum is accurate.

I don't know whether GPS altitude is measured against an estimate of local sea level with reference to the Earth's centre - 'sea level' is not the same world-wide. Or whether an assumed perfect oblate spheroid provides the GPS datum?

Whatever. GPS altitude is a useful back-up, but that is all. It could only be used as a separation standard if everyone carried GPS and used the same 'earth model'. Which, outside CAS, will never happen.

Mind you, when the OAT was +3 deg C and it was getting wet outside, I was very glad to know my GPS altitude and, assuming 2 deg/1000 ft, to be able to assess the risk of ice....



...whilst driving through the Eifel on non-winter tyres, that is!
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