Pressure altitude

Pressure altitude is the altitude in the International Standard

Atmosphere (ISA) with the same atmospheric pressure as that of
the part of the atmosphere in question.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

published the following formula[1] for directly converting
atmospheric pressure in millibars ( ) to pressure altitude in feet ():

In aviation, pressure altitude is the height above a standard datum

plane (SDP), which is a theoretical level where the weight of the
atmosphere is 29.921 inches of mercury (1,013.2 mbar; 14.696 psi)
as measured by a barometer.[2] It indicates altitude obtained when
an altimeter is set to an agreed baseline pressure under certain
circumstances in which the aircraft’s altimeter would be unable to
give a useful altitude readout. Examples would be landing at a high
altitude or near sea level under conditions of exceptionally high air
pressure. Old altimeters were typically limited to displaying the
altitude when set between

and

. Standard pressure, the baseline used universally, is

hectopascals (

), which is equivalent to
or

inches of mercury (

). This setting is equivalent to the atmospheric pressure at mean sea

level (MSL) in the ISA. Pressure altitude is primarily used in aircraft-
performance calculations and in high-altitude flight (i.e., above the
transition altitude).

QNE
QNE is an aeronautical code Q code. The term refers to the
indicated altitude at the landing runway threshold when

or

is set in the altimeter’s Kollsman window. In other words, it is the

pressure altitude at the landing runway threshold.

Most aviation texts for PPL and CPL exams describe a process for
finding the pressure altitude (in feet) using the following rule of
thumb formula:

For example, if the airfield elevation is

and the altimeter setting is

, then
Alternatively,

For example, if the airfield elevation is

and the QNH is

, then

Aircraft Mode “C” transponders report the pressure altitude to air

traffic control; corrections for atmospheric pressure variations are
applied by the recipient of the data.

The relationship between static pressure and pressure altitude is

defined in terms of properties of the ISA.

See also
QNH
Flight level
Density altitude
Standard conditions for temperature and pressure
Barometric formula
References
1. "Pressure Altitude" (PDF).
2. Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge (FAA-H-8083-
25B), 2016, Chapter 4, p 4-4