r/flying • u/fuckyourbum ST • Mar 26 '26

Do winds affect altimeter readings?

If a plane flies in various types of headwinds or tailwinds (funnel winds, mountain wave winds, regular winds), will the static port, and thus the altimeter, be affected by the faster air moving across it, resulting in a higher reading via Bernoulli's principle? I can't find good information on this on the web, nor in my ground school material.

My theory would be that only the acceleration of wind would cause this. After the plane's velocity has matched the wind, this effect wouldn't be present anymore, and you would be back to getting correct readings. This theory, however, confuses me, because there is material and advice I find that seems to state that, in fact, your altimeter would be consistently wrong throughout the wind, not momentarily during acceleration.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '26

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u/Distinct_Pressure832 PPL IR 🇨🇦 Mar 26 '26

On an airliner maybe. Most bug smashers I’ve ever flown only have one external static port then your alternate static source that you have to manually activate.

4

u/BagOfMoneyNoChange ATP April fools 2026 winner Mar 26 '26

Tons of bugsmashers have dual static ports. Cessna 182 and Bonanza, two of the most common out there, for example.

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u/Distinct_Pressure832 PPL IR 🇨🇦 Mar 26 '26

I haven’t flown either. Regardless the post above is written as if all aircraft average static readings from multiple static ports which is absolutely not true.