False audio warning on an airplane?

Question

few days ago i was flying in my small private jet, @ 28,000 then all the sudden the to low terrain alarms goes off and was no where near the ground. took it to the mech's at the airport and all checked out fine.. so what could of cause that false audio warning to go off?

Answer 1

John and Bit are exactly right, of course. I have had this happen to me in a DC-10 at 10,000 feet above Frankfurt.  We were stacked in holding and the plane below us set off the GPWS thru the radar altimeter.  Wakes you up!!

Answer 2

Depends on alot of things, was the auto pilot on, were there mountains nearby, what type of plane is it, did you do anything out of sequence.

I am an airline mechanic and we get similar write ups from time to time. Pretty much if it's a one time deal it could have just been a sticky relay or something to that effect. Pretty much ops ck good and get it on it's way. Now if it happened again shortly after that we would look more into it.

Answer 3

The radar altimeter, if your aircraft is equipped, could cause this, as well as a barometric altitude error. Whatever GPWS system computer you have could cause it as well. Sometimes, a computer glitch is the culprit. You'll have to see how it works on the next flight, but it's related to the altitude inputs.

Answer 4

Depending on what GPWS system is installed, the radar altimeter will set it off momentarily if another aircraft passes directly beneath you.