Altitude problems? Weird! Please help

[L2004ynx]

Hi,
I hope someone can help me with a weird problem.
I just loaded up fs2004 as usual and choose my plane and airport. When they loaded up I find that Im at Heathrow but the altitude states that im already 85 feet off the ground, which Im clearly not.
I tried several Planes and airports all of which had different altitudes, none being correct. I also noticed that the altimeters had a squiggly line through them. Im not sure if thats significant or not.
Many thanks for any help.  :)

[Staiduk]

Hi L2004ynx.
I'm not sure what you mean by 'correct'. I just loaded up Heathrow; and depending on the plane, 85 feet is the correc BALT for that airport. Don't know what the squiggly line is; what aircraft are you using?

[L2004ynx]

Hi,
 Im not sure what I mean now . I was trying different planes at the same airports. Ive just tried a 747 at the default airport on start up that said I was at 442.7ft, thats at Seattle. The planes are also slow in getting away and accelarating. It just seems a bit strange.
I need to go have another go and see what happens

[ozzy72]

Have you set your barometric pressure in your altimeter correctly?

[Delta_]

As far as i know it is compared to sea level.

[ReverseThrust]

I'm pretty sure Hyvry_1 is correct.  The altimeters in FS are ft. above sea level- not abocve the ground.  So you were 85 feet above sea level- not the ground!  

Many planes have radar altimeters as well, which use radar to find distance above the ground.  One of my favorite panels has this feature for FS.  So the FS is correct- and the squiggly line- maybe something to do with autopilot or overspeed!?

[L2004ynx]

Thanks very much for your help guys. Ive been back in and although things are as they were Im not now sure in my own mind as to wether they have always been like that and im having some sort of mental block.
I was convinced something was wrong but have now tried several flights and have had no problems.
So maybe it was me. Strange though because im not knew to the sim I thought I would have noticed these things before. I have downloaded several new planes today and just got it in my head that one had caused these problems. Once again thankyou for your help.

[Nexus]

[quote]I'm pretty sure Hyvry_1 is correct.

[ReverseThrust]

It's one of them R- words!!

Funny.  I could have sworn that the panel I use said radar.  I'll have to go look closer!

[Nexus]

Don't feel bad, it's the same thing (I almost had you there  )  but I've been taught to use the phrase radio...radar altimeter means just the same.  ;)

A radar is a transmitter, receiver, antenna and a displayscreen of some kind. And guess what, you basically have the same thing onboard an aircraft, same principle, different area of use

[ReverseThrust]

Now that I think about it, youre right-
RADAR stands for RAdio Detection And Ranging- there's no such thing as RADAR waves!  You had me there for a minute.

[Nexus]

lol, no...Radar waves are non-existant  :)
To be honest, never really reflected over the meaning of RADAR...thx for the heads up, much appreciated  :)

Sigh, acronyms...don't get me started on them, especially in aviation. What the heck is AC?

Aircraft?
Alternating current?
Air condition?
Air Carrier?
Airframe change?

I bet there are at least 10 more meanings, but I can't come up with any more, and besides it's 4am here now  ;D

[Billerator]

I was shocked to find that LASER is a ctualy an abbreviation for Light Amplification by Stymulated Emission of Radiation .