Altimeter Messed Up

[robbyaube]

Hi all,

I've noticed that lately my planes' altimeter is zero'd at 3500 rather than 0, tried to lower it but when the message appears that my altimeter is set wrong and to press B to reset, it goes back to 3500,,,

Is there something I don't know about how to adjust this?

Happened on the Dash 8, EMB190 and A320 planes which were fine before that...

Thanks,

Robby

[Brett_Henderson]

The only time that setting current barometric pressure (hitting 'B') will set the altimeter to zero, is if you're at sea-level.

-Either you're AT 3500 feet above sea-level when you do it.. or your altimeter is malfunctioning.

[robbyaube]

That makes alot of sense, I am guessing calgary AB is approx 3500 above sea level.. Is there an instrument that tells you what distance from the ground you are? I was depending on that one at landings, and in the dark let's just say I reached the ground a good ways before it reached 0..

thanks.

[Brett_Henderson]

These are great questions to get you thinking like a pilot  8-)

Flight planning is a BIG part of it..  As in.. knowing the field elevation at your destination before you take off..  ;)  ... and that gets into descent planning.. and on, and on.


And, flying in situations where you rely on instruments, is instrument flying.. as in, knowing how to navigate by instrument, and knowing how to fly by instrument flight rules (IFR).

Sounds like you're trying to run before learning to walk..

Click the image in my signature  

[JBaymore]

robbyaube,

Go to Airnav.com and download the REAL charts for the airports you are using.  It has all the info that you need and is very accurate to the stuff in the sim.  Runway elevations, ILS localizer frequencies, taxiway maps, and other goodies are all there for the FREE taking.

Helps with flight planning.

best,

.......................john

[727 driver]

the sim will give you airport hight if you go through the flight planner and as said in the posts with this program it will get you thinking like a pilot..altimeter. works with height above sea level not absolute altitude

Hi all,

I've noticed that lately my planes' altimeter is zero'd at 3500 rather than 0, tried to lower it but when the message appears that my altimeter is set wrong and to press B to reset, it goes back to 3500,,,

Is there something I don't know about how to adjust this?

Happened on the Dash 8, EMB190 and A320 planes which were fine before that...

Thanks,

Robby

[BigTruck]

That makes alot of sense, I am guessing calgary AB is approx 3500 above sea level.. Is there an instrument that tells you what distance from the ground you are? I was depending on that one at landings, and in the dark let's just say I reached the ground a good ways before it reached 0..

thanks.

If your plane has an extra radar altimeter installed I believe that actually tells you how high you are above the actual ground, not your true altitude above sea level like the main altimeter.

[727 driver]

quite right ..radar alt will show height above the ground regardless of the height above sea level...the radar alt does not work on pressure as the installed baro alt does..the baro alt.should be set to the current altimeter setting or the field hight of the departure airport..in some cases it could be 5000 + feet...

That makes alot of sense, I am guessing calgary AB is approx 3500 above sea level.. Is there an instrument that tells you what distance from the ground you are? I was depending on that one at landings, and in the dark let's just say I reached the ground a good ways before it reached 0..

thanks.

If your plane has an extra radar altimeter installed I believe that actually tells you how high you are above the actual ground, not your true altitude above sea level like the main altimeter.

[Capt.Propwash]

Im not sure, but it sounds like you might be looking for a GPWS (Ground Proximity Warning System) gauge.  what it does is, as you are coming in for landing it will read out "verbally" and tell you ... 1000 -- 500 -- 400 -- 300 -- 200 -- 100 -- 50 ... etc  20, 10, 5!!


it will also say things like WARNING! PULL UP - PULL UP!! if it sees that you are too close to "ground" either being sea level or Mt Everest.  It will also yell out.... SINK RATE! PULL UP.... SINK RATE! PULL UP!! -- meaning your nose is too low and you are falling too fast.


I personally hated it yelling at me to pull up as I am trying to land at 500 -(negative) vertical speed, but thats just me.






Where do you find this gauge you ask???? http://www.simviation.com/fsdsounds.htm



you will need the top 2 files in the list

[robbyaube]

Thanks everyone for this information. I have the GPWS in the dash 8 and I do find it a little annoying when im trying to land as it seems hyper active on the sink rate thing... but I am starting to get it now..

I took a look at Airnav.com but it appears to be US only, is there a like site for Canada?

Thanks,
Robby

[dave3cu]

Canada charts-http://www.ivao.ca/charts/

Dave

[Capt.Propwash]

if you are looking for ONLY sectional charts for Canada for various airports.... (along with runways/taxiways etc like they are on Airnav)


Home page:: http://www.ivao.ca/

Charts:: http://www.ivao.ca/charts/cap.html


[dang, Dave beat me to it as I was typing lol]



**** off topic.... if you happen to want charts for the Eastern 1/2 of the world, you could take a look at :: http://flight.sanyjo.cz/mapy//

It seems to have most (but not all) of the Countries of the Eastern Hemisphere {even though the USA is listed with just a few airports} ****