All instruments in your panel lie some of the time. Some of them lie all the time. Even if you have a glass panel that eliminates things like compass turning errors, and its connected to an air-data computer so it always know the true airspeed, your back-up systems likely are steam gauges, the old-fashioned, mechanical kind. Thats the bad news.
Altimeters measure atmospheric pressure, not true altitude, making them inherently prone to errors influenced by deviations from the International Standard Atmosphere (ISA) regarding pressure and temperature.
Significant variations in barometric pressure from ISA (e.g., altimeter settings above 31.00 in Hg or below 28.00 in Hg) require specific Air Traffic Control (ATC) advisories, altimeter adjustments, or render flight operations unrecommended to prevent flying higher or lower than indicated.
Cold temperatures severely impact altimeter accuracy, causing aircraft to fly lower than indicated. Pilots are mandated to apply specific cold temperature error corrections at designated airports by increasing published minimum altitudes to ensure safety.
All instruments in your panel lie some of the time. Some of them lie all the time. Even if you have a glass panel that eliminates things like compass turning errors, and it’s connected to an air-data computer so it always know the true airspeed, your back-up systems likely are steam gauges, the old-fashioned, mechanical kind. That’s the bad news.
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