(i) Improper leveling of plane table : If the plane table is not properly leveled and made horizontal, the sight vanes will be inclined to the vertical. There would be an error and the points located will not be correct.
(ii) Inaccurate Centring : If the plane table is not accurately centred, the error in plotted position of station will cause error in plotting of all other details from that station.
(iii) Improper orientation : If the plane table is not oriented properly, the fundamental principle of plane table surveying will get violated and thus plotting in general will be inaccurate.
(iv) Improper clamping of plane table : Improperly clamped plane table will disturb its orientation, and thus error due improper orientation will creep into.
(v) Inexact bisection of object : If the object is not sighted accurately or not bisected properly, error in direction of object will occur and thus its plotted position.
(VI) Improper plotting : This may be caused due to any error in measurement of distance or direction of ray, due to error in instruments or error in manipulation or sighting. This will lead to inaccurate map of the survey and thus the objective of surveying will be poorly achieved.
(vii) Instability of tripod stand : If the tripod stand is not set in stable, the whole of surveying and plotting will get disturbed and thus error in surveying and making map.