GM34 Annex I Definitions

CAA ORS9 Decision No. 47

Text in magenta in force from 30 October 2025

DECISION ALTITUDE (DA) OR DECISION HEIGHT (DH)

1. Decision altitude (DA) is referenced to mean sea level and decision height (DH) is referenced to the threshold elevation.

2. For operations using DA, the aircraft altimeters are set to QNH. For operations using a barometric DH, the aircraft altimeters are set to QFE.

3. For SA CAT I, SA CAT II, CAT II/III operations, the DH is based on the use of a radio altimeter or other devices capable of providing equivalent performance. The DH is determined with reference to threshold elevation, but the value of the DH set for the approach will be based on the height of the aircraft above the pre-threshold terrain, which may be higher or lower than the threshold.

4. For convenience, when both expressions are used, they may be written in the form ‘decision altitude/height’ and abbreviated ‘DA/H’.