ICON5 Altitude Guage

[KLM606]

So I'm flying the ICON at night to get the Rabbit Island cache.
I fiddle with the nob attached to the Altitude guage, which also has a small insert of numbers that's set at 29.92 .
As I play with the nob, the altitude reading changes and the 29.92 changes to other small amounts What did i do, and what does IT do?
Is 29.92 barometric pressure, 'cause I don't know what I'm talking about.
I landed on water and set the Altitude Guage back to zero, but is sea level zero?
And why would the altitude reading change.
I even swirtched ICONs and altitude stayed the same. (I was hoping it would reset.)

[RoboRay]

EDIT: You already got this on AVSIM, but added here for anyone else interested...

29.92 is the "average" (mean, really) atmospheric pressure at sea level, used as "standard air pressure."

In the real world, as the weather changes the pressure changes, altering the altitude shown on your altimeter. Before taking off, you need to adjust your altimeter in one of two ways:

1) By dialing in the current pressure from local weather information, or...

2) As you did, by adjusting the shown altitude to your known, correct altitude. If you are not at sea level, you use the altitude for your location. It can be taken from the airfield elevation data on charts (or the in-game Map), for example. It's often conveniently painted in large numbers on hangars or other buildings on the flight line, too.

If you did not adjust the altimeter, and today's pressure was lower than yesterday's, the instrument would say you are higher than you really are, which could let bad things happen, especially in poor visibility.

You also have to adjust the altimeter while flying, as the pressure isn't constant over the whole world and you need to match what's current for your local area. Otherwise, your altimeter would not be giving you correct information.

You don't need to worry about any of this in Flight, as it doesn't model atmospheric pressure variations. Just keep it on 29.92.

[KLM606]

Thanks.
I was hurrying out the door to work, and was puzzled by the guage, so I multi-posted.
And perhaps many pax didn't know the guage did that.

[FS Tester]

FYI, If you want to learn more about this topic, a good resource is the Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge from the FAA, downloadable from:
http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/pilot_handbook/

Here is an exerpt from Chapter 7:

Setting the Altimeter
Most altimeters are equipped with a barometric pressure setting window (or Kollsman window) providing a means to adjust the altimeter. A knob is located at the bottom of the instrument for this adjustment.

To adjust the altimeter for variation in atmospheric pressure, the pressure scale in the altimeter setting window, calibrated in inches of mercury ("Hg) and/or millibars (mb), is adjusted to match the given altimeter setting. Altimeter setting is defined as station pressure reduced to sea level, but, an altimeter setting is accurate only in the vicinity of the reporting station. Therefore, the altimeter must be adjusted as the flight progresses from one station to the next. Air traffic control (ATC) will advise when updated altimeter settings are available. If a pilot is not utilizing ATC assistance, local altimeter settings can be obtained by monitoring local automated weather observing system/automated surface observation system (AWOS/ASOS) or automatic terminal information service (ATIS) broadcasts.

Many pilots confidently expect the current altimeter setting will compensate for irregularities in atmospheric pressure at all altitudes, but this is not always true. The altimeter setting broadcast by ground stations is the station pressure corrected to mean sea level. It does not account for the irregularities at higher levels, particularly the effect of nonstandard temperature. If each pilot in a given area is using the same altimeter setting, each altimeter should be equally affected by temperature and pressure variation errors, making it possible to maintain the desired vertical separation between aircraft. This does not guarantee vertical separation though. It is still imperative to maintain a regimented visual scan for intruding air traffic.

When flying over high, mountainous terrain, certain atmospheric conditions cause the altimeter to indicate an altitude of 1,000 feet or more higher than the actual altitude. For this reason, a generous margin of altitude should be allowed—not only for possible altimeter error, but also for possible downdrafts that might be associated with high winds.


To illustrate the use of the altimeter setting system, follow a flight from Dallas Love Field, Texas, to Abilene Municipal Airport, Texas, via Mineral Wells.

Before taking off from Love Field, the pilot receives a current altimeter setting of 29.85 "Hg from the control tower or ATIS, and sets this value in the altimeter setting window. The altimeter indication should then be compared with the known airport elevation of 487 feet. Since most altimeters are not perfectly calibrated, an error may exist.

When over Mineral Wells, assume the pilot receives a current altimeter setting of 29.94 "Hg and sets this in the altimeter window.

Before entering the traffic pattern at Abilene Municipal Airport, a new altimeter setting of 29.69 "Hg is received from the Abilene Control Tower, and set in the altimeter setting window.

If the pilot desires to fly the traffic pattern at approximately 800 feet above the terrain, and the field elevation of Abilene is 1,791 feet, an indicated altitude of 2,600 feet should be maintained (1,791 feet + 800 feet = 2,591 feet, rounded to 2,600 feet).


The importance of properly setting the altimeter cannot be overemphasized.

Assume the pilot did not adjust the altimeter at Abilene to the current setting and continued using the Mineral Wells setting of 29.94 "Hg. When entering the Abilene traffic pattern at an indicated altitude of 2,600 feet, the aircraft would be approximately 250 feet below the proper traffic pattern altitude.

Upon landing, the altimeter would indicate approximately 250 feet higher than the field elevation.
Mineral Wells altimeter setting 29.94
Abilene altimeter setting 29.69
Difference 0.25
(Since 1 inch of pressure is equal to approximately 1,000 feet of altitude, 0.25 x 1,000 feet = 250 feet.)

When determining whether to add or subtract the amount of altimeter error, remember that, when the actual pressure is lower than what is set in the altimeter window, the actual altitude of the aircraft is lower than what is indicated on the altimeter.

The following is another method of computing the altitude deviation. Start by subtracting the current altimeter setting from 29.94 "Hg. Always remember to place the original setting as the top number. Then subtract the current altimeter setting.

Mineral Wells altimeter setting 29.94
Abilene altimeter setting 29.69
29.94 – 29.69 = Difference 0.25
(Since 1 inch of pressure is equal to approximately 1,000 feet of altitude, 0.25 x 1,000 feet = 250 feet.) Always subtract the number from the indicated altitude.
2,600 – 250 = 2,350

Now, try a lower pressure setting. Adjust from altimeter setting 29.94 to 30.56 "Hg.
Mineral Wells altimeter setting 29.94
Altimeter setting 30.56
29.94 – 30.56 = Difference –0.62
(Since 1 inch of pressure is equal to approximately 1,000 feet of altitude, 0.62 x 1,000 feet = 620 feet.) Always subtract the number from the indicated altitude.
2,600 – (–620) = 3,220

The pilot will be 620 feet high.


Notice the difference is a negative number. Starting with the current indicated altitude of 2,600 feet, subtracting a negative number is the same as adding the two numbers. By utilizing this method, a pilot should be able to better understand what is happening with the aircraft’s altitude. This method always yields the correct result and tells a pilot what the altitude is and the direction. (The implications of not understanding where the errors lie and in what direction are important to a safe flight.) If the altitude was lower than actually indicated, an aircraft could be in danger of colliding with an obstacle.

[wlayton27]

It does happen that 1 inch of Mercury (in. HG) of pressure corresponds to 1000 feet of altitude pressure, this only holds true at lower altitudes near sea level. Air doesn't behave like liquids such as water and liquid Mercury as it can change in density at different pressures. This means that at higher altitudes, the difference in air pressure over a 1000 foot altitude difference is actually less than 1 in. HG. If this wasn't true, the altitude of approximately 29,920 feet would mark a "surface" of atmosphere where there would only be a vacuum above that mark.

The barometric altimeter changes the altitude indicated by 10 feet for each click (0.010 in. HG) regardless of what altitude you currently have, so the barometric pressure corrections should only be used to account for weather variations (sea level pressure) and not to gauge the altitude above a point on the ground such as the runway.