Aviation Stack Exchange
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Questions tagged [altitude]

A measurement of vertical distance. Usually measured at either Mean-Sea-Level (MSL) or Above-Ground-Level (AGL).

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Do pilots adjust the aircraft's flight path to allow for the curvature of the Earth?

If an airliner is flying at approximately 500-600mph, it seems to me that there would need to be a significant adjustment for altitude so as to not fly off into space. Wikipedia says that there's an 8 inch drop for every mile because of the Earth's…
NormLDude
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Where is the official definition of pressure altitude?

I know that pressure altitude for a certain pressure is defined to be the altitude in the standard atmosphere which has that pressure. But I can't find whatever standard, regulation, or glossary officially defines it to be so. I tried to look in the…
Doug McClean
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How does an aircraft descend without its nose pointing down?

I have seen many cockpit videos of airplanes landing, and nearly none of them have their nose down for losing altitude. How does this happen? and how does an airplane, such as A320, descend without its nose pointing down? And how does this happen in…
Mamad
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How is true altitude derived?

I read everywhere that the true altitude is computed as: True Altitude = Indicated Altitude + (ISA Deviation × 4/1000 × Indicated Altitude) But why is that the case? How is that derived? Where does that 4/1000 come from?
Qwer
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How to obtain true altitude from indicated altitude, temperature and QNH?

maybe it's a little impolite to ask but I got stuck with knowing bunch of formulas and not understanding how to use it: Can you help me on understanding how the correct answer 7300ft came out of the following question: Given the following…
Alexandr Meyer
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What is the definition of "geometric height" referred in the ISA Model?

The International Standart Atmosphere document always mentions the "geometric height" (along with the geopotential hieght) in their calculations. I predict that it means orthometric height, which is the distance from a point in the atmosphere to the…
Melih Durmaz
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What was the record for the highest man-made flight before Gagarin's spaceflight?

My recent conversation with uhoh reminded me of something which stays kind of unmentioned in history of air and space flight, namely the altitude record prior to Gagarin's Vostok 1 mission. I wonder what the highest human flight had been before the…
user30007
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How can you find AGL if the altimeter is set to MSL?

Without doing the math, how do you know your true altitude AGL when your altimeter is set to MSL
Tony
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If a plane had a laser/infrared ruler its four extremities pointing downward, could that work as an altimeter device?

Laser noob here. I don't know what the maximum range on a high powered laser is, nor a low-powered laser for that matter. Just wondering if this is at all possible. I mention four extremities because it would a combination of the four different…
NormLDude
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What was the reason for my flight’s low cruise altitude?

I’m a fairly new aviation enthusiast and am just curious to know the answer to this question. I flew Boston to Newark yesterday 14/6/22 (UA2396) and we cruised at or under 16000 feet for the whole flight. It’s only a short route but when I have…
Hannah
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What is baro corrected altitude?

I have data from an aircraft which I am trying to understand. One column contains the baro corrected altitude (in ft, e.g. 256) and another the pressure altitude(also in ft, e.g. -44). The two example data points given were measured at the same…
Eric
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How do I calculate true altitude?

Currently doing my CPL and in class we were shown a formula on how to calculate the true altitude, which as I understand it is the distance between the ground and the plane while taking into account non-standard temperature. Basically, what a radar…
SpicyRiceTea
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How to convert barometric altitude to gps altitude?

In my work I have some challenge with an aircraft altitude values: I was provided with some data from aircraft flight in my country. The data contains variety sensors data (like lat, long, altitude, out air temperature, pressure,...). I need a way…
user64609
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How to calculate density of ISA+10ºC at 11705m?

I know how to calculate the density under normal ISA conditions at a given altitude, but I'm unsure about how to go about calculating it at ISA+10ºC, or at any ISA+XºC conditions.
stevederekson555
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What happens when I set my altimeter at the starting of my flight?

When I set my altimeter to 29.92 mm Hg, I have my pressure altitude. However, what am I doing, when I set my altimeter before each flight. My instructor tells me to hear for AWOS, and set the altimeter accordingly. Lets say I set it up to 29.77 mm…
Jesh Kundem
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