Your altimeter is set to 30.47 and you are flying at 6,500 feet MSL with a current altimeter setting of 29.87. What is your actual altitude?

When flying at a specific indicated altitude, the altimeter reading relies on the current atmospheric pressure setting. In this scenario, the altimeter has been set to 30.47 inches of mercury (inHg), but the current altimeter setting is 29.87 inHg.

To understand the effect of these altimeter settings on altitude reading, it is important to note that when the altimeter setting is higher than the current setting, the altimeter will display a higher altitude than the actual altitude. Conversely, when the altimeter is set to a lower pressure than what is actually present, it will show a lower altitude than what the aircraft is truly at.

Since your altimeter is currently set to 30.47 inHg, it is more "sensitive" to higher pressure, causing it to indicate you are at a higher altitude than you actually are. The current setting of 29.87 inHg means that the air pressure is lower than the reading on your altimeter.

Therefore, given that you are flying at 6,500 feet indicated with an incorrect pressure setting, your actual altitude is lower than the indicated altitude. This distinction explains why the correct answer is that your altitude is lower than what is indicated by the altimeter