AAE 348 FLIGHT PRINCIPLE II LECTURE 1

Altitude and its measurement

Altitude, or height, is the vertical distance from any point to a reference point. A
reference point must be on a point on Earth. In aeronautics, this point is the mean
sea level, and, in astronautics, this point is the center of the Earth.
In aerospace terms, there are several definitions for altitude depending upon how it
is determined.
 Geometric or true altitude(ℎ 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝐺 ), the true altitude measured directly in meters
or feet above sea level. Airport, terrain, and obstacle elevations on aeronautical
charts are true altitudes.
 Density altitude (ℎ𝜌 ) the altitude on a standard day at which the density would
be equal to the actual air density experienced by the vehicle. Since the forces
acting on a wing or fuselage are a direct function of density, the behavior of an
airplane depends only on density altitude (although the engine power or thrust
depends also on pressure and temperature). This altitude is often determined
indirectly.
 Pressure altitude (ℎ𝑃 ), the altitude on a standard day for which the pressure is
equal to the existing atmospheric (or ambient) pressure. Current mechanical
altimeters are pressure instruments and are therefore calibrated to read the
pressure altitude, which is based on pressure measurement. This altitude is also
determined indirectly.
 Temperature altitude (hT ) the altitude on a standard day for which the
temperature is equal to the existing atmospheric temperature. This altitude is also
determined indirectly. Pressure altitude, density altitude, and temperature are
related through the equation of state. In reality, there is only one physical altitude,
but, depending upon how the altitude is measured, the three altitudes given may
or may not be the same as real altitude. These three altitudes have been created
due to the fact that the accurate measurement of altitude with mechanical
altimeters is very difficult. However, with the recent advance in technology and
the application of Global Positioning System (GPS), the altitude can be
determined fairly accurately.

Example1: Consider an aircraft cruising at an altitude where the actual altitude,

pressure, and temperature are 6,700 m, 43,468𝑁⁄𝑚2 , and 243.36 K, respectively.
Determine the pressure, temperature, and density altitudes.

Solution
For the pressure altitude, from ISA table, the value corresponding to P = 43,468
𝑁⁄𝑚2 is obtained as 6600 m. Thus
Pressure altitude = 6600 m

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For the temperature altitude, from ISA table, the value corresponding to T = 243.36
K is obtained as 6900 m. Thus
Temperature altitude = 6900 m

For the density altitude, we must first determine the air density from the equation of
state:
𝑃
𝜌=
𝑅𝑇
43468
𝜌= = 0.62236 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3
287 ×243.36
Looking at the ISA table and interpolating between 6500m and 6600m, we can
find that the standard altitude value corresponding to ρ = 0.62236 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 is about
6,528 m. Hence
Density altitude = 6528 m

Comment: It is observed that none of the three pressure, temperature, and density
altitudes matches with the real altitude. If the atmospheric condition was standard,
all four values are expected to be the same. In addition, it is interesting to note that
the temperature altitude is not a unique value. The answer for the temperature
altitude could equally be 6.9, or 34.2_km because of the multivalued nature of the
altitude- versus-temperature function (atmospheric layers). In this section, only the
lowest value of the temperature altitude is employed.

There are two other altitudes of interest to orbital or space flights, although they are
not important for aircraft, they are
 Absolute altitude (ℎ𝐴 ): The absolute altitude is the distance measured from the
center of the Earth. The average radius of the earth (𝑅𝐸 ) is 6370 km; then
ℎ𝐴 = ℎ𝐺 + 𝑅𝐸
The absolute altitude is very important for space flight because the local acceleration
of gravity (g) varies with absolute altitude

 Geopotential altitude (ℎ𝐺𝑃 ): The relation between geopotential altitude and

geometric altitude is:
𝑅
(ℎ𝐺𝑃 ) = ( 𝐸 ) ℎ𝐺
𝑅𝐸 +ℎ𝐺
Example 2: Determine the true altitude of an aircraft when its instrument is
recording a temperature of 224.56K.
Solution 2
True altitude (ℎ𝐺 = 9.77𝑘𝑚)

Assignment 1
What will be the true altitude, absolute altitude, geopotential altitude for a spacecraft
with an instrument reading 9.872 e-3 𝑘𝑔⁄𝑚3 .

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 ALTIMETER

An altimeter is an active instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above

a fixed level. The three main types of altimeters are;
1 Pressure altimeter, or aneroid barometer: Which approximates altitude above
Sea level by measuring atmospheric pressure
2 Radio or radar altimeter: Which measures absolute altitude (distance above
land or water) based on the time required for a signal.
3 GPS: Which uses the satellite constellation and is fairly accurate.

Pressure altimeter

The traditional mechanical altimeter, found in most GA aircraft, works by measuring

the air pressure from a static port of pitot tube in the aircraft. It mainly consists of
tube, diaphragm, spring, display, and pointer. The altimeter is calibrated to show the
pressure directly as altitudes, in accordance with a mathematical model defined by
the ISA.
When it is set to the proper barometric pressure, it measures the altitude of the
aircraft above sea level.
A pressure altimeter measures the pressure of air at the level an aircraft is flying and
converts the pressure measurement to an indication of height above sea level
according to a standard pressure–altitude relationship.
These altimeters must be calibrated for each aircraft against position error, scale
error, compressibility error, and apply altitude correction factor. Because altitude
measured in this manner is also subject to changes in local barometric pressure,
altimeters are provided with a barosetting that allows the pilot to compensate for
weather changes, the sea-level air pressure to which the altimeter is adjusted.

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 Radar altimeter
A radar altimeter uses electromagnetic waves to measure the distance of an aircraft
or other aerospace vehicle above the ground. Radar altimeters are often used in
aircraft during bad-weather landings. Radar altimeters are much more accurate and
more expensive than pressure altimeters. They are an essential part of many blind-
landing and navigation systems and are used over mountains to indicate terrain
clearance.
The altimeter measures height by determining the time required for a radio wave to
travel to and from a target.

Global positioning system

By the introduction of GPS, the altitude measurement has become an easy task and
rather more accurate. The GPS has almost no direct effect from atmospheric
conditions. No matter, if an aircraft is flying in an ISA or non-ISA condition, its
altitude is measured precisely via GPS. Without the radar altimeter or GPS (e.g.,
pressure altimeter), the measured altitude is subject to various errors. This must be
taken into account when we are calculating aircraft performance.
Many new aircraft are currently equipped with a GPS receiver. So, their altitude
measurement is accurate and we do not need to take into account the effect of air
density variations.
The GPS is initially funded, designed, and implemented by the U.S. Department of
Defense. While there are hundreds of millions of civil users of GPS worldwide, the
system was designed for and is operated by the U.S. military. The GPS provides
specially coded satellite signals that can be processed in a GPS receiver, enabling
the receiver to determine their position and velocity. At least four GPS satellite
connections are needed to compute their positions in three dimensions. The positions
in x, y, and z are converted within the receiver to latitude, longitude, and height.
Velocity is computed from the measured change in position over time.

Altimeter setting
This is the value of the atmospheric pressure used to adjust the sub-scale of a
pressure altimeter so that it indicates the height of an aircraft above a known
reference surface.

 QFE (Field Elevation): This is a pressure setting you dial into your altimeter to
produce the height above the runway. It reads zero when you are on the runway
and gives your height above it when you are airborne.
 QNH (Height above Sea Level): This is a pressure setting you dial into your
altimeter to produce the height above sea level. It reads runway elevation when
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 you are on the runway and is based on an altimeter setting adjusted until the
station's correct elevation above sea level is read.
 QNE (En Route). This is a pressure setting of 29.92 inches or 1013.25 hPa that
will produce a standard atmosphere altitude and provides the basis for flight
levels.

Quiz 1
Imagine you are landing at an airport that is 300 feet above sea level, with an obstacle
height of 200 feet. You have dialed in QNH thinking that you dialed in QFE. Your
altimeter reads 400 feet. Because you think you dialed in QFE, you believe you are
400 feet above the ground, but since you actually dialed in QNH. What is the actual
height of the aircraft above the ground and state if the aircraft can clear the obstacle
during the landing.

FLIGHT CEILING
A very important criterion for aircraft performance is the ceiling. Ceiling is defined
as the highest altitude at which an aircraft can safely have a straight-line steady
sustained flight. It is the highest altitude that an aircraft can reach by its own engine
and have a sustained flight. The higher the ceiling, the better the performance. This

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performance parameter has limited application in civil airplanes, but is very
significant for military airplanes. For instance, if the ceiling of a fighter is higher
than the ceiling of missiles in a specific region, this fighter can operate freely on that
region and survive.
The primary reason for having the ceiling is the lack of sufficient air density at high
altitudes. At high altitude, there is not sufficient air to be consumed by prop-driven
engine for combustion. So, the engine power/thrust is reduced with altitude.
On the other hand, as the air density is decreased, the drag force is decreased too.
The required power is defined as the required thrust (which is equal to the aircraft
drag in a steady-level fight) times the airspeed. At low altitudes, the available power
is greater than the required power. However, the rate of reduction of available engine
power is higher than the rate of reduction of required power. The variations of
available engine power and aircraft required power are depicted by two curves. Thus,
these two curves have an intersection that is the altitude for ceiling. As an aircraft
flies higher and higher, the amount of available air decreases, so the available power
reduces too. As a result, at one particular altitude, the maximum available power is
barely enough for an aircraft to maintain its level flight. This is the very ceiling.

RATE OF CLIMB

A climbing flight can either be accelerated or unaccelerated. The first part of most
climb operations is often an accelerated one up to a certain altitude. The second part
follows afterward, and it is when the aircraft reaches its optimum climbing condition.
In this part, the climb is unaccelerated. At this level the unaccelerated climb will
primarily addressed.
One of the typical jobs of a flight performance engineer is to do necessary
calculations and provide pilots with a flight manual. The aircraft performance
engineer who prepares the flight instruction must be aware that an average pilot does
not like to execute a complex climb. Pilots like to see and follow a flight instruction
that is easy to apply. The continuous variations of engine power or engine thrust are
not desired by most pilots. Thus, in the majority of aircraft cases (either civil or
military), a climb is based on either constant speed (V) or constant Mach number
(M).
Rate of climb is an aircraft's vertical speed. That is the positive rate of altitude change
with respect to time. It is expressed in feet per minute or in metres per second.
𝑑ℎ
𝑅/𝐶 =
𝑑𝑡
Example 3: An aircraft with a mass of 15,000kg is climbing at a climb angle of 16°
with a speed of 350m/s. determine the rate of climb and excess power of the engine.

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Example 4: A business jet aircraft with a mass of 12,700kg and two turbofan engines
each generating a thrust of 23.7 kN is climbing with an airspeed of 250 knot. If
aircraft drag is 12,000 N, determine the ROC and climb angle. In addition, how high
the aircraft will fly in 2min? Ignore the variations of the aircraft weight, drag, and
engine thrust during this period.

TYPES OF CEILING

1 Absolute ceiling (𝒉𝒂𝒄 ): As the name implies, absolute ceiling is the absolute
maximum altitude that an aircraft can ever maintain level fight. In other words,
the absolute ceiling is the altitude at which the rate of climb is zero. So, the
aircraft is not able to climb higher than the absolute ceiling. The absolute ceiling
is sometimes referred to as the maximum operating altitude (MOA). The
operation of an aircraft in absolute ceiling is limited by flight, structural,
powerplant, functional, or equipment characteristics.
2 Service ceiling (𝒉𝒔𝒄 ): Service ceiling is the highest altitude at which the aircraft
can climb with the rate of 100 ft/min (0.5 m/s). Service ceiling is lower than
absolute ceiling.
3 Cruise ceiling (𝒉𝒄𝒄 ): Cruise ceiling is the highest altitude at which the aircraft
can climb with the rate of 300 ft/min (1.5 m/s). Cruise ceiling is lower than
service ceiling.
4 Combat ceiling (𝐡𝐜𝐛 ): Combat ceiling is the highest altitude at which a fighter
can climb with the rate of 500_ft/min (2.5 m/s). Combat ceiling is lower than
cruise ceiling. This ceiling is defined only for fighter aircraft

Assignment 2
An aircraft with a mass of 50,000kg is to undergo a test flight. The excess power
produce by the engine is 2kW. Determine
i.) The speed to attain service ceiling.
ii.) The climb angle to attain service ceiling
iii.) The speed to attain cruising ceiling
iv.) The climb angle to attain cruising ceiling