Sensitive Altimeter

[Dirtydog]

1 more stupid question: What is a Sensitive Altimeter?:confused:

[Mike Schallmann]

Look here for the answer: http://www.auf.asn.au/groundschool/umodule3.html#altimeter

[DennisFetters]

One that is easily offended.

[All_In]

One that is easily offended.

Good one Dennis!!! Still laughing!

[Resasi]

Chris I am assuming that you mean an altimeter where one complete sweep of the long hand is only five hundred feet.

That is the one we got since we wanted a more precise idea of exactly how high we are above the ground, rather that one where one complete sweep is one thousand feet.

Can't remember the name but Chinese unfortunately, we got it from Spruce at Sun and Fun. Sitting with Stu in Orlando where he is presently fitting them all into the instrument panel.

[Dirtydog]

Mike Schallmann : Thanks for the info! I knew I should haven't ask this question.


:laser:DennisFetters: I have been here 6 months now and that is the first time he has offend me! I am still looking for that hover gasket too!

Resasi : Thanks!

[docrob]

At the risk of giving a serious answer, I'll give this a shot.

Back in olden times, many of the Cubs, T-Crafts, etc. had non-sensitive altimeters. They looked like a modern altimeter, but with only one needle -- the short one. One revolution of the needle was 10,000 feet, just like the short needle today. But without the long needle, you had to interpolate between the numbers to know how many hundreds of feet high you were. If the needle pointed to "1." you were 1,000 feet, "2" was 2,000 feet, etc. If it pointed to the first small mark past "1," you were at 1,200 feet. This wasn't good enough for instrument flying, so they added the long needle, which gives 1,000 feet per revolution, and can be read to the nearest 20 feet, rather to the nearest 200 feet. This new innovation was called a -- are you ready for this?-- a "sensitive altimeter."

Aren't you glad you asked?

Dr. Rob