9AN41 Aircraft instruments-II

Chapter 3
ALTIMETER

Principle of operation:

A simple altimeter consists of a thin corrugated metal capsule

which is partially evacuated, sealed and prevented from collapsing
completely by means of a leaf spring. In some cases complete collapsing
is prevented by its own rigidity. The capsule is mounted inside a case.
The case is fed with static pressure from aircraft static tube/ vent.
As the aircraft climbs the static pressure in the case decreases
allowing the spring to pull the capsule faces apart. If the aircraft
descends the rise in pressure in the case compresses the capsule faces.
The linear movement of the capsule face is magnified and transmitted
via a system of gears and linkages to a pointer moving over a scale
graduated in feet according to the standard atmosphere. This
calibration is according ICAO standard atmosphere. This is also called
translation of pressure into vertical height.
A simple altimeter is set to indicate height above the 1013.25 mb
pressure. The dial adjusting knob allows the indicator needle to be
moved away from datum. By this an altimeter is set on ground to read
air field elevation so that it will there after indicate height above mean
sea level. If the altimeter is set zero before takeoff it will read height
above air field.

Sensitive altimeter:

The sensitivity of altimeter can be increased by adding two or more

capsules. So that its linear displacement is increased and it can detect
small changes of pressure. Such directly operated capsule altimeters
will lack accuracy above 60,000 ft. Normally, change of pressure of
1mb at sea level is indicates only 30 feet change ot height, whereas at
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60,000 feet a similar change relates to a height change of 325 feet.

Thus altimeter measures the height of the airplane above a given
pressure level.

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Servo assisted altimeter:

The servo assisted altimeter is designed to relieve the capsule of the

work required to drive the mechanical linkage. Changes of barometric
pressure is still sensed by the contraction or expansion of evacuated
capsules, but the mechanical transmission is replaced by a position
control servo system, i.e. the movement of the capsule is transferred to
the pointers by means amplified electrical signals. These electrical
signals can be transmitted to other systems cabin pressurization etc.
Relieving the capsule effort to move the pointer through gears and
linkages, increases the accuracy of altimeter.

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Pressure altitude and indicated altitude:

Altimeter will read the height under ISA condition which is also
known as a pressure altitude. In practice, atmospheric pressure and
temperature changes continuously on the globe. Under these non-
standard conditions altimeter will be in error and display the indicated
altitude. For example, altimeter under ISA at sea level will respond to
1013.25 mb and indicate the pressure altitude of zero feet. If the sea
level pressure falls to 1012.2 mb, the altimeter will indicate that the
airfield is 30 feet above sea level. Thus it is in error +30 feet. Now if the
pressure increases to 1014.2 mb at sea level, it will read 30 feet below,
an error of -30 feet.
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In a similar manner, errors would be introduced in the reading of

such altimeter in flight whenever the atmospheric pressure at any
particular height varies from the assumed standard value. For example,
if an aero plane flying at 5,000 feet enters a region where pressure has
fallen from standard value of 842.98 mb to 837 mb, the altimeter will
indicate 5190 feet. Therefore to compensate for altitude errors due to
atmospheric pressure changes, altimeters are provided with a manually
operated setting device which allows prevailing ground pressure valves
to be pre-set before take-off, and during flight continuously when
aircraft is in contact with nearest aerodrome or with each other.
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Q code:

The setting of altimeters to the barometric pressures prevailing at

various flight levels and airfields is part of flight operating techniques,
and is essential for maintaining adequate separation between aircraft,
and terrain clearance during take-off and landing. In order to make the
settings a pilot is dependent on observed meteorological data which are
requested and transmitted from ground control centers. The requests
and transmissions are adopted universally in the form of ICAO 'Q' code
of communication.

QFE: It is a setting of the barometric pressure prevailing at

an airport to make the altimeter read zero on landing at, and take-off
from, that airport. The zero reading is regardless of airport elevation
above sea level.

QNH: Setting the barometric pressure to make the altimeter

read airport elevation above sea level at the time of landing and take
-off. The QNH valve is only valid in the immediate vicinity of airport
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concerned. QNH is useful in determining terrain clearance when an

aircraft is en-route.

SAS: The third setting is referred as standard altimeter setting,

in which barometric pressure is set to 1013.25 mb or 29.92 in hg. It
is used for flights above a prescribed transition altitude. It has the
advantage that requisite limit of separation between all aircraft flying
in the same airspace, can be maintained easily. This setting varies from
one continent to another.

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Altitude: It is the vertical distance above mean sea level. The

altimeter indicates an altitude when QNH is set.
Elevation: It is the vertical distance of a fixed point above or below sea
level. Air port elevation means vertical distance of a touch down point
from MSL.
Height: It is the vertical distance measured from specified datum,
when QFE is set. Altimeter indicates height above airport datum.

Altimeter failure:

During the course of flight an altimeter could fail due to blockage of

static vent in icing/ raining conditions or mechanical failure in the
sensor/ transmitting media. An altimeter could also fail due to leakage
in pipelines from static vent to the indicator. Under such situations the
aircraft should land back to the aerodrome stating the emergency to
ATC. However to avoid such emergencies two altimeters are provided,
one for captain and other for first officer. Also these altimeters have
alternate static pressure source with a change over switch so that at
least one altimeter will remain serviceable. In modern altimeters a
failure flag is incorporated which indicates the failure of the instrument.
A typical servo altimeter may have pneumatic system also, which will
continue to function if the electrical power fails. In that case a warning
flag is displayed on the dial indicating the failure of electrical supply. In
spite of many safety devices a complete failure of the altimeter system
could not be ruled out. In that case the flight should be discontinued
and efforts are to be made to land safely to the nearest airfield and get
the system rectified.
A simple rectification procedure includes:
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a. Clearing the drain holes and typical drains of the system.

b. Checking the pitot/ static heating system.
c. Checking the electrical circuit of servo altimeter etc.

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