YouTube - Man vs Wild
xtreme Desert (1/6) In the Man vs. Wild episode where Bear Grylls skydives from a C208, the aircraft's instruments are shown briefly. I don't know which variant of the C208 the plane was, but from what I've found via quick searches the highest performing aircraft's ceiling is FL300. However, the altimeter appears to be showing FL320.
Are aircraft able to go beyond their service ceiling by this much, or could this simply be a mis-calibrated altimeter? The instrument panel has at least two inoperative equipment indicators, leading to my other suspicion that this could just be a poorly maintained plane. Am I just bad at reading altimeters?