Panel Altitude Indicator Indicating Wrong Altitude

Is it just me or I have been experiencing this for awhile that my altitude on the panel of any aircraft i go to seems to be always wrong and unrealistic. Air traffic controllers often tell me that my altitude is different from what theirs say! Sometimes my panel shows i am at 5000 feet for example but I am actually at 11000 feet! So while using the auto pilot I sometimes have to cope with it and try putting the altitude lower! Sometimes the HUD screen that only some planes have, also tell me my real altitude compared to the wrong ones on the panel. But planes that do not have the HUD screen, I cant seem to figure out my real altitude and I can't fly normally. I have read up and tried pressing B but did not change anything on the panel. And also what is the difference between BARO and RADAR, radar seems to be a lower altitude?

Have you gone into your FSX/Settings/General and changed it to Non U.S. settings?

 

Don't rely on a Radar altitude. It is a direct measurement of your aircraft to ground. If you are flying over a mountain, it will show way less altitude compared with flying over the ocean or flat ground.

 

Barometric altitude. https://www.basicairdata.eu/projects/barometric-altimeter/

Edited March 10, 2020 by mrzippy

The BARO setting is adjusting the altimeter to the local altimeter setting, which is the barometer reading corrected for actual elevation of the site giving you the setting (that's what ATIS will give you for a setting), and this altimeter relies on barometric pressure to operate, and is intended to be set to read your height above Mean Sea Level.

 

A RADAR altimeter is the readout giving the distance a radar beam finds between you and the ground, which can vary rapidly if you're over hills and mountains, and is useless for most aviation purposes other than during some instrument approaches. You must use the barometric altimeter, just as real aircraft do.

 

So if your "panel" shows 5000 feet and ATC says you're at 11,000, then you are at 11,000 feet above Mean Sea Level and the terrain below you is at 6,000 feet above MSL, or 5,000 feet below you, which is what the radar altimeter shows. So there should be another instrument on your panel that shows altitude that matches what ATC is saying.

 

You've not said what aircraft you might be flying, but there's usually a round dial (one of many 3" gauges on the panel if it's not the so-called "glass cockpit," usually black with white hands and letters/numbers) that has a big hand and a little hand, much like a clock. Usually this will actually have the word ALTITUDE on it. The longer hand reads in hundreds of feet and the shorter hand reads in thousands of feet. When at and above 10,000 feet there may be a third, even shorter hand, or there may be a numerical readout of some sort to tell you that you're above 10,000.

 

The radar altimeter usually has only one hand, or maybe a digital readout, and often cannot read above 5,000 or so feet, depending on the design.

 

I have read up and tried pressing B but did not change anything on the panel.

 

If it didn't change anything, then it was probably already correctly set.

 

Sometimes the HUD screen that only some planes have, also tell me my real altitude compared to the wrong ones on the panel.

That HUD readout is the barometric altitude. You need to find the barometric altimeter on your panel. It WILL be there, somewhere. So tell us what aircraft, and whether it is a "glass cockpit" or the older style round gauges, and perhaps someone can help you identify the proper instrument.

Thank You so much for the information! So just to confirm that I must use the barometric altimeter to see my altitude above mean sea level right? I normally fly Airbus A350,Airbus A340, B787-10Genx the most and I think I see older style round gauges too? I just want to be able to see my barometric altitude from my panel instead of the altitude above ground as well.

I will try it! Thanks!