Pilot Altimeter & VSI
This is completely free; there are not even ads!
The app is an electronic version of an altimeter and vertical speed indicator (VSI) designed for pilots to use easily. It does not replace the need for an approved altimeter in your aircraft, but that does not mean it doesn't work. I envisage its main uses are as an emergency altimeter if the one on the aircraft fails, and as a tool to allow trainee pilots to learn the basics of altimetry.
It displays feet above the datum which can be expressed in either hectopascals (equivalent to millibars) or inches of mercury. There are buttons to decrease and increase the pressure datum by 10 units and 1 unit, and there is a special button to use to select pressure altitude which instantly sets 1013.25 hPa (29.92 inHg). In this mode, it shows your flight level as well as the pressure altitude.
I have also added the capability to display a rolling 30s history of indicated altitude and vertical speed. How accurate is your straight and level flying? What about your level turns, rate 1, medium rate or steep? You can't focus on the altimeter or VSI while you are turning! With this, you can look at how well you did after the fact.
Perhaps you use an autopilot and you want to know how well it holds your level? This is probably the exact tool you need!
I have now tested it while flying and it was reading about 60 feet high on the Cardiff QFE during the test which was conducted in a Cessna 172. That seemed to be consistent through the circuit when comparing its reading to that of the altimeter within the aircraft.
If you intend to make use of it while flying, please read the more extensive notes here beforehand:
http://phabvionics.co.uk/android-pilot-altimeter/
In particular, I do not recommend that you use this as your primary reference to altitude.
You can also leave comments on that page. You can access that page through the "About" entry of the menu.
KNOWN PROBLEMS:
A screen rotation causes loss of historic filter data at present. All that means is that you have to wait a few seconds (depending on the filter strength) to regain accurate indications and for the rolling history graph to catch up. Fixed in v1.8, now being rolled out.
Category : Tools
Reviews (11)
Works as advertised.
I am willing to pay for additional features if you can include them in an update. I need the app to call out the altitude every 100 or 50 feet. And a warning for sink rate. And possibly notifying upon reaching a certain height.
on my Samsung Note 2
Great app for testing your accuracy while flying. A feature that might make it better is an alarm that you can set to hold an altitude and goes off when you go 100 feet or so above or below it. That way you get notified during the turns. All in all a great app. Thanks developers.
It only displays "no data". How impressive. Turned everything on and then off, no change.
Good. Audio output for climb/descent rate would be nice
This little app is very lightweight yet performs flawlessly on my Nexus 4. It is accurate compared to heights given on a UK ordnance survey map, and very sensitive.
It really works.. I just think a better design should be made for this app, but everything else is fine!
Please add possibility to set height in meters Thank you very much! Russian planes operates in meters
Took it flying and it works. Matched the the aircraft instruments. Recommended.
I rarely post reviews of Android apps, but this one was so useful that I couldn't resist. My plane does not have a VSI, but I wanted to do some ascent testing. I was ready to just write down my times and estimate my ascents, but I happened to see this just before I took off. On a whim, I downloaded it and tried it. It's quite good! If you adjust it to the ambient pressure, then its accuracy is virtually the same as my altimeter. That gave me great confidence the VSI portion of the app would, too, be accurate. Using this was way better than writing down timings and gave me exactly what I wanted. Kudos to the programmer(s)!