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Old June 12th 05, 05:13 PM
Fred G. Black
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Aluckyguess wrote:
Its a 296. It seems the like the higher I go the farther off it is.
I am one to think the GPS would be more accurate than the altimeter.
I was thinking that we get incorrect altimeter settings


The altimeter is only "accurate" when the temperature profile of the
airmass is equal to the ISA standard atmosphere. The rest of the time,
there will be some error which increases with altitude (wrt wherever the
source for the altimeter setting is located). This isn't a concern for
en-route operations since everybody's altimeter has the same "error".
It can be a concern for terrain clearance in the mountains or in some
cases instrument approaches in cold weather since the altimeter reads
higher than the plane actually is.