Dose FW altitude mode need GPS

I’m testing the altitude mode in a fixed wing with a rangefinder and no airspeed sensor. The px4 version is v1.14.0 and the pixhawk version is 2.4.8. I set EKF2_RNG_CTRL as enabled, EKF2_HGT_REF as range sensor. In the ground test, the rudders don’t respond to remote control input without GPS, but the rudders respond to remote control with GPS. In the flying test, when there is no GPS, the throttle will raise to 100% after change flight mode from stablized mode to altitude mode; when GPS is present, the altitude mode works well. So i want to ask that dose FW altitude mode need GPS, furthermore, what data or sensors are required for FW altitude mode?