Miniature pressure transducers which are suitable for measuring pressures on models placed in rarefied shock tunnel flows are described. Special attention is given to the problems of mechanical vibration, convective heating, and miniaturization. It is shown that by using a matched pair of piezoelectric crystals in conjunction with special first‐stage circuitry a pressure transducer can be built which, for example, is 5.1 mm in diameter and has the following characteristics: (1) a pressure sensitivity of 1.64 mV/Torr, (2) an acceleration sensitivity of less than 0.0425 mV/gat frequencies up to 200 Hz, and (3) a negligible response to heat flux rates up to 1.33 &Dgr;pMW/m2, where &Dgr;pis the measured pressure increment in units of torricelli.