Expert commentators have noted that the flight navigator, who was listing the altitude readings on the transcript, was referring to the radar altimeter ( which gives height above ground ) rather than the pressure altimeter ( which would provide the height relative to the level of the runway ).
12.
Later the same year ( 1996 ), Aeroper?Flight 603, also operated with a Boeing 757, suffered a similar but far more difficult situation ( " static " ports blocked by tape, rendering " all " airspeed indicators " and pressure altimeters " unusable ) and crashed in the ocean off Peru.
