[DAVE0009]

It appears the sim gives a altitude reading of sea level and am wondering if anyone has considered a mod to get actual height from ground directly below them if thats possible. I know altimeter work on air pressure so it may be a cheat.

[caldrail]

It appears the sim gives a altitude reading of sea level and am wondering if anyone has considered a mod to get actual height from ground directly below them if thats possible. I know altimeter work on air pressure so it may be a cheat.

Altimeters give a reading based on air pressure and must be calibrated because the air pressure varies from day to day, and in some conditions changes even more rapidly. The reading for altitude above sea level is therefore a standard for which pilots adhere to, since the height of the ground below them should be known to them from charts or local knowledge. The variability of ground height would therefore make an altimeter based on that basis almost unuseable for traffic control or flight procedures, since one aircraft flying at 1000' is not flying at the 1000' of another, thus the risk of collision, both with other aircraft or the ground. There are uses for radio altimeters showing height above ground (ie - flight in bad weather) but all aircraft so equipped rely on the pressure altimeter and the sea level standard to maintain safe operation.

[Lt.Wolf]

we all ready have this in the game, the Red speed bar in the corner is in alt above sea and the wonderwoman gauges are in alt above land

[DAVE0009]

I guess I am asking for a radio altimeter in all aircraft then.

What are the wonderwoman gauges ?

[Skunkmeister]

Even on real aircraft, radio altimeters will very rarely be used for anything over 1000'.

And even if you could put a radio altimeter in all the planes in this game, you would hear cry CHEAT because not all WW2 aircraft had one.

[RAF_Leigh]

if they had it put it in





but if they didn't forget about it

[JoeA]

I guess I am asking for a radio altimeter in all aircraft then.

What are the wonderwoman gauges ?

Ctrl F1 and you get a panoramic no-cockpit view with 4 generic gauges on the bottom, speed (in true air speed TAS - KMH) and altimeter (true height above ground) on the left and an artifical horizon and compass on the right. You also have the gunsight in the middle.

So you can always have a "radio altimeter" in every plane, problem is you do not have any obstruction from the cockpit.

[DAVE0009]

Ctrl F1 doesnt work on my game for some reason. Maybe I have some setting that prevents it?

[caldrail]

What would have been historically more accurate and better for gameplay is an altimeter toggle. It would show altitude above sea level for general use, and toggled to 'height above airfield', since the air pressure information would have been available to pilots of that era, sometimes by radio too.

[Skunkmeister]

Ctrl F1 doesnt work on my game for some reason. Maybe I have some setting that prevents it?

In the difficulties menu, make sure that "Cockpit always on" isnt ticked.

[DAVE0009]

Thanks Skunkmeister. Ive just removed my training wheels (no cockpit) and am using full cockpit now as the 6DOF mouse mod works well with the X-52 throttle mouse stick.

[Trooper117]

IT would be pretty realistic if we could use Q codes, QFE and QNH for more accurate altitude settings at airfields when taking off or landing.

[caldrail]

IT would be pretty realistic if we could use Q codes, QFE and QNH for more accurate altitude settings at airfields when taking off or landing.

I don't think they used Q codes back then - though the information was the same. A major point however, linked with the other thread about airfields, is that there's no guaranteed way of letting the pilot know this information. The radio might not be working with ventilation provided by enemy fire, or the aircraft might not be equipped with one.

My point is that pilots were flying visually - bad weather operation was in its infancy along with radar detection.

There is the story of a B-25 flying across New York State in 1945 (or was it the year before?). The pilot wanted to transit Manhattan in poor weather, and the ground controller (which shows some rudimentary air traffic control in america at least) told him that wasn't a good idea, the cloud base being too low for safe flight. The pilot was apparently in a hurry to arrive at his destination and ignored the controllers advice, colliding with the Empire State Building. Thankfully the casualty rate was low, and one woman survived a fall in one of the lifts from a coniderable height.