>can we know what range of altitude the plane is actually at?

Near Norway right now, the pressure is 968 hPa. A pilot with an altimeter
set to the standard 1013 hPa therefore has a pressure error of 45 hPa. There
are about 10 m (30 ft) per 1 hPa. It will read '33 000 ft' when it is around
31 500 ft.

Over Portugal right now, the pressure 1033 hPa. A pilot with an altimeter
set to the standard 1013 hPa therefore has a pressure error of 20 hPa. It
will read '33 000 ft' when it is around 33 700 ft.



>How did you come up with 33�000 ft = 26.2 kPa?� 
�
http://mtp.jpl.nasa.gov/notes/altitude/altitude.html

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