Setting the altimeter will help you judge your circuit pattern and landing accurately.
Introduction to Altimeters:
As weather passes over an area of land the air pressure at the surface changes. Also airfields vary in height depending on the elevation of the terrain. This means that altimeters with be in error and will not read zero when on the ground. To overcome this altimeters have a pressure setting control.
Standard Pressure Setting Procedures:
To simplify coordinated understanding of an aircrafts height there are standard pressure setting procedures.
Airfield Pressure = QFE = Altimeter reading zero on the airfield. Used for takeoff and landing. Each airfield has a different QFE as they are at different terrain elevations.
Airfield Pressure reduced to sea level = QNH = Altimeter reads airfield elevaltion on the airfield. Used for flying below 3000ft
Standard Pressure Setting = 1013mb = Altimeter reads the aircraft height in Flight Levels. Used at altitudes above 3000ft so altimeters in all aircraft match.
1mb = 30ft approximately. So, if you know the difference between your take off elevation and your landing elevation you can adjust your QFE.
Altimeter Description:
The altimeter is in the bottom left of the main dashboad. Is is in feet with three needles. One each for hundreds, thousands and tens of thousands of feet.
There is a setting knob just below the altimeter to allow setting of the local air pressure. This can be activated using the mouse either side of the knob to decrease(left) or increase(right) the pressure setting. The pressure setting is repeated in text on the right of the screen. The game starts with a default Altimeter setting of 1000mb.
Default 1000mb set
Alitmeter Control:
1. Set a Keyboard Key for Altimeter Decrease.
"Options" / "Controls" / "Keys" / "Aircraft" / "Altimeter Decrease".
I use "Q" for Altimeter to Decrease
3. Set a Keyboard Key for Altimeter Increase.
"Options" / "Controls" / "Keys" / "Aircraft" / "Altimeter Increase".
I use "E" for Altimeter to Increase
Altimeter Errors:
1. Blockage. Altimeter readings do not change with change in aircraft height.
2. Lag. altimeter is slower to respond than the aircrafts change in height.
3. Other errors include Installation, Mechanical, Reversal, Scale. These are unlikely to be modelled in the game.
Alitmeter Use:
All aircraft in a Squuadron should set the same pressure setting.
1. Set the alitmeter to zero on the ground and note the pressure setting. This is the QFE.
2. Cross country below 3000ft, set the QNH.
3. Above 3000ft, set 1013mb
4. Before descent to recover, set the last known QFE.
5. If avaiable, ask for and set the QFE of the airfield you are landing at.
QFE set
As these procedures are quite awkward in combat, we may all just set the QFE before takeoff only.
Gos