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A couple of people have asked recently about QNH, QFE Altimeter settings. Please find below a simple (ish) guide to the altimeter settings available to most modern gadget owners. It's an easy one to forget but one of the ones to remember so it here. QNH Query: Nautical Height = The pressure measured at mean sea level. When set on your altimeter it will read your altitude. Sat on your field the altimeter will display the fields elevation above mean sea level. This is the most used setting in the flying world. It's the most useful setting to have, as nearly all references to elevation are in relation to mean sea level. The hills or mountains on an air chart, field elevation, minimum safe altitudes on your XC etc. Different regions have different weather and there fore different pressure settings. If your doing an epic XC, to stay accurate, you will need to adjust your settings as you cover different regions. QFE Query: Field Elevation = Is mean sea level pressure corrected for temperature, adjusted for a specific airfield. When this is set on your altimeter, It will read zero at the field and after take off will read your height above 'that' field. If you fly to another field of different elevation or different pressure the reading will be inaccurate. QFE is very good for new pilots who are returning to the same field after a short XC. QNE = The International Standard Atmosphere. This one is the average mean sea level pressure around the globe. It is earths mean atmospheric pressure at sea level. in a nut shell, unless you are flying an intercontinental jet you need not worry about this one Every day's a school day hope you learned something and please do share. If anyone want's to add anything... please do SW

Hi all, I'm a long time lurker and PG pilot who has done a lot of commercial PG flying and PG instructing in New Zealand. I'm returning to the UK in May and I have an Ozone Spyder on order and I will be placing my order for an AC Nitro very soon. I will want to get into the air ASAP and will certainly want to avoid controlled airspace. I already have an airspace map for my area Coventry/Warwickshire and there is quite a big area I can fly if I stay under 4500'. At some point in the future I will want to get a flight deck with some kind of moving map setup like one of the modified kobos with airspace maps and a barometric altimeter and GPS installed, that's if these are still the units regarded as decent. However, in the mean time I was something small, maybe wrist mounted unit that will give me an accurate altitude. I have a couple of android phones, one is a Samsung S7 which has a built in pressure sensor which I might try but I'm aware of the difficulty with reading the display in direct sunlight and the need to have it connected to a battery bank to maintain charge on longer flights. I have installed the android app 'ppgps' which looks pretty neat and also the 'accurate altimeter' app. Would this phone set up be OK and practical or can anyone suggest some kind of inexpensive altimeter that I could use in the early days and then utilise as a back up later on? I don't want to buy a vario/Altimeter unit which I once had for pg. I'd welcome some advice. Blue skies, Ian