If the shadow is longer than the gnomon, first turn the astrolabe upside down then set the alidade at two, the height of the projected gnomon, then read off the altitude from the altitude scale.
2.
Additionally, each aircraft has a slightly different way of measuring altitude that needs adjustment, the CSBS accounted for this effect by including two altitude scales, a linear scale of altitude in orange on the right side of the bar, and any number of white scales on the back that could be clipped onto the sight.