When flying a plane, what is the difference between altitude and attitude?

Answer 1

Altitude is your elevation above sea level. Attitude is a combination of factors. Here's a definition:

Attitude instrument flying is an extension of the concept of attitude flying. The establishment of a specific pitch and bank attitude, accompanied by a designated power setting, will cause predictable aircraft performance. Therefore, if pitch, bank and power are determined through reference to the flight instruments and the desired performance is confirmed by these instruments, the definition and technique of attitude instrument flight is clearly evident.

Meaning, when you are climbing/descending, the plane is pitched up/down. That is the plane's attitude. When you are banking for a turn, it is the plane's attitude.

Answer 2

Altitude is the distance between the Airplane and the surface of the earth. Attitude is the relation of the plane to the horizonn. Meaning is the plane nose even with the horizo, therefor maintaining level flight, or high on the horizon therefor gaining ALTITUDE, of is the nose below the horizon therefore decreasing ALTITUDE.

You can also get into pitch and yawl etc, but I think this will settle the question for you

Answer 3

Attitude Is Altitude

Answer 4

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When flying a plane, what is the difference between altitude and attitude?

Answer 5

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Aircraft are designed to fly in a a "standardized" version of the earths atmosphere, called the International Standard Atmosphere. The ISA is a set of formulas that show how air temperature, pressure, density, etc change with alitifude above sea level. However, the real atmosphere at any given time and place is not the same as the ISA., because of climate and weather. If you measure the actual air density at some place, the Density Altitude is just the altitude in the ISA that corresponds to the measured density. It may be higher or lower than the real altitude. If your chart of aircraft performance data is based on the ISA (which is usually is), then to find your takeoff length etc you want to look up the densiity altitude for the atmospheric conditions on the day, not the physical altitude of the airport above sea level. Pressure Altitude is a similar idea. Ignoring modern radar altimeters and GPS devices, aircraft altimeters do NOT measure altitude, they only measure air pressure. (Aircraft speed meters also only measure air pressure, not actual speeds). However the altimeter doesn't have a scale showing "pounds per square inch" or "millibars", it has a scale showing the altitude assuming the air conditions are the same as the ISA. That is called the Pressure Altitude. Again, Pressure Altitude can be higher or lower than real altitude above sea level. For high level flying, the exact actual altitude usually doesn't matter (unless you are flying over a mountain range!) so to simplfy air traffic control etc, "Flight Levels" always refer to the Pressure Altitudes, not the actual altitude. That is convenient for everybody, because the air conditions at say FL100 are always the same, so aircraft performance, fuel consumption, etc are always the same. So long as all aircraft use the same measurements, It doesn't matter that "Flight Level 100" is 9000 feet above the ground one day, and 11000 feet above the ground another day in a different part of the world (it would be 10000 feet if the air conditions were the same as the ISA). At takeoff and landing, of course you need to know the true altitude above the local ground level, and you recalibrate your altimeter based on the actual measured air pressure conditions on the ground at the time, so it reads "zero feet" when you are on the runway. (You aren't interested in the altitude of the airfield above sea level - you have more things to worry about when landing a plane than trying to remember that you will hit the ground at 3824 feet above sea level, - or was it 4823 feet???)

Answer 6

Altitude is how high you are either depicted in Mean Sea Level (MSL), how high you are refrenced to sea level, or Radar Altitude or Above Ground Level (AGL), how high you are above the ground.

Attitude is the angle at which the aircraft is to the horizon. For Pitch Attitude, it is how far above or below the nose of the aircraft is to the line made on the horizon. Roll is the angle at which the wings or rotor disc are to the horizon and Yaw from the Relative Wind effecting the aircraft.

Attitude effects Altitude in most cases. If I were in straight and level flight and I changed my ATTITUDE to nose high without changing anything else, I would Climb in ALTITUDE. Opposite for nose low, I would descend. If I were in straight and level flight and I made the aircraft Roll I would then turn the aircraft and now be in a Turning and level flight ATTITUDE.

Answer 7

Altitude is height, attitude is the position of the aircraft relative to the ground

Answer 8

Altitude simply means how high in the air you are. This is generally not how high above the ground you are over, but how high compared to sea level.

Attitude means how the aircraft is in relation to the horizon (or flat ground). It can be pointing up or down (it's "pitch") or it can be banking left or right (it's "roll"), or any combination of those.

Answer 9

Altitude - How high you are
Attitude - what angle is the plane at

Answer 10

altitude is your height above the ground

attitude is your plane's factor - nose high or nose low
too high stalls you out - and you lose altitude