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| Author |
Altimeter |
p51d
Posts: 120
Joined: 06.05.06
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| Posted on 05-06-2007 18:08 |
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For some odd reason, FSX is telling me to reset ( my altimeter more than usual. Anyone know why this happens? |
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| Author |
RE: Altimeter |
jackfolla
Posts: 509
Joined: 11.04.06
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| Posted on 05-06-2007 18:09 |
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oading different weather themes changes things like temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, density altitude etc... all of this affects the aircrafts performance.
the default altimeter setting in the flight sim series has always been 29.92" HG, this is the meteorological "international standard atmospheric pressure at sea level" it serves as a "base line" for all other pressure readings.
so when you load real world weather - or any of the other weather "themes" in FSX the pressure may be 30.12" HG while your altimeter is set by default to 29.92" HG. you have to press "B" to set your Barometric pressure on the altimeter to whatever the observed barometric pressure is at the time. This calibrates your altimeter so that it will indicate the correct altitude above sea level regardless of what outside pressure is because you are telling the altimeter what the real observed pressure actually is.
Pilots have to do this in real life every time they go flying because air pressure changes from day to day... and in most cases several times per day.
for reference - if your altimeter is set incorrectly by so much as 1.00" HG your altitude indication will be incorrect by approximately 1,000 feet. to see this for yourself in FSX load up the "clear all weather" theme and sit on the runway - your altimeter will read the elevation when set to 29.92 - now set it to 30.92 and you will see a notable difference on the altimeter.
I hope this helps explain - if you are getting tired of setting the altimeter then you might want to play on the "clear all weather" theme all the time since the default 29.92" setting and the games weather setting are the same pressure. otherwise, you will have to do as in real life and just twist the knob to the current pressure or press "B"
in summation - you are probably loading weather themes or playing with real world weather turned on and this is the reason for the increased number of prompts to set the altimeter - also when you climb above 18,000 feet you will have to set in 29.92 as the standaed above there... you might also consider that pressure changes as you cover large distances, so if you fly 80 miles in one direction the pressure is likely to be different if you are playing with any sort of weather theme with the "rate of change" slider adjusted at all. i think FSX simulates this really well. |
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