Understanding Class B Airspace for Drone Pilots
Class B airspace, commonly called “Class Bravo” airspace, is a crucial concept for drone pilots to understand. This airspace is designed to manage air traffic around major metropolitan areas with busy airports. Let’s talk a bit about how to identify Class B airspace on sectional chart for drone pilots.
What is Class B Airspace?
Class B airspace surrounds busy airports in major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Miami, New York, LA, Phoenix, and Seattle. The primary reason for this designated airspace is the high volume of air traffic such as airliners entering and out of these regions.
The Upside-Down Wedding Cake Analogy
One of the most common ways to visualize Class B airspace is to consider it an upside-down wedding cake. At the base, right on the surface, lies the airport. This airspace extends vertically for a specified distance, as indicated on aeronautical charts. As you move higher in altitude, the radius of the airspace expands, creating layers or “shelves” that resemble the tiers of a wedding cake.
Reading the Charts
VFR sectional charts, available on platforms like SkyVector, are invaluable tools for identifying Class B airspace. For instance, the Chicago O’Hare Airport, a Class B airport, is depicted with solid blue lines indicating its airspace boundaries. The numbers on these charts, such as “SFC” to “100,” signify that the Class B airspace starts at the surface and extends up to 10,000 feet MSL (Mean Sea Level). It’s essential to note that all altitudes on these charts are in MSL since pilots refer to this measurement on sectional charts while in flight.
Mode C Veil
Another crucial aspect of Class B airspace is the “Mode C Veil.” This solid magenta line usually surrounds the Class B airport for 30 nautical miles. Any aircraft within this veil requires a Mode C transponder and an ADS-B out. However, drones typically do not have these technologies.
Why is Class B Airspace Important for Drone Pilots?
While drones operate at much lower altitudes than most manned aircraft, understanding Class B airspace is still vital. This knowledge ensures safe operations and helps drone pilots avoid conflicts with other aircraft. Additionally, drone pilots might encounter questions about Class B airspace on the FAA Part 107 exam.
For instance, while a drone pilot might be flying no higher than 400 feet AGL (Above Ground Level), they must still be aware of their operating airspace. This is especially true in areas where the boundaries of Class B airspace might change rapidly over short distances.
In Conclusion
Class B airspace plays a pivotal role in the National Airspace System, ensuring the safe and efficient movement of air traffic around major airports. For drone pilots, understanding this airspace is not just about passing exams but also about ensuring safe flight operations. Always refer to updated VFR sectional charts and be aware of the airspace you’re operating in.
Safe flying!
FULL VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
What is class Bravo airspace. So class Bravo airspace or Class B airspace is airspace that is going to be around very busy airports major metropolitan areas, Chicago, Miami, New York, LA Fenix, Seattle, these larger metropolitan areas where there’s going to be a lot of air traffic specifically, the reason for the air traffic is because there’s a lot of airliners coming in and out. Okay, so Class B airspace is shaped just like an upside down wedding cake. So right down here as on the surface, this is where we would have the, the airport, and then that class Bravo airspace is going to extend straight up for a certain distance. And that’s going to be designated on the charts, which we’ll show you here in a second. And then from there, you’re going to go up to you know, in this example, looks like maybe about 1500 feet AGL, it’s going to be a little bit different, just depending on the geographic area that you’re looking at here. So it was the class Bravo airspace extends all the way up to, you know, however many feet above the ground level, and then it extends out that radius. So this radius right here is what extends out. That’s what gives it this sort of second layer of the wedding cake. So this radius extends out. So if you’re up flying around up here at you know, 5000 feet AGL. Or if I’ve even 5000 feet MSL, we don’t know because this is just an example here. But you could be flying around here. And if you are at a certain altitude, you might be in class Bravo airspace. But if you’re down here, below the shelf, you might not be in class Bravo airspace. Okay? So again, that radius just extends out and then the further up you get an altitude, this radius extends out even further. So if you look at the VFR sectional charts, it shows you exactly what those shelfs look like that are those layers of the wedding cake, wedding cake will tell you exactly what they look like. Okay, so let’s take a look at some of the charts that we can use to identify class Bravo airspace and how to read it on those charts. skyvector is a great resource that you can use to look at VFR sectional charts for free online, they have the current ones on there, you can just go to Sky vector.com to bring these up, you’re obviously not going to use these while you’re out flying. But you can you can certainly get on here and take a look at you know any type of airspace you want to in the in the country. So this is Chicago O’Hare Airport it is a class Bravo airport and I brought this one up because it’s probably one of the more simpler ones with regards to the upside down wedding cake. As I said, it’s not always possible to be a full just you know, complete upside down wedding cake just because there’s sometimes other things that get in the way. Like for example right here you can see this cut out right here because there is an airport right there. But this right here is Chicago O’Hare Airport and then this is that initial inside circle of the class Bravo airspace. So as you can see right here, it says SFC and then a line and then it says 100 So that means that the class Bravo airspace starts at the surface of the ground up to 10,000 feet MSL. Now, when we are looking at aeronautical charts, any altitudes that are listed on the chart are going to be in MSL or mean sea level simply because pilots are using these charts in the aircraft as they’re flying and when they are looking at the altimeter in their aircraft, the altimeter reads in MSL. So the way you can remember it is if you are looking at a document that a pilot may be using as he or she are flying, that is going to be in MSL, this is a document that a pilot may use while he or she is flying. Okay, so this inner ring right here starts at the surface of the ground and extends up to 10,000 feet, then is this radius gets out a little further. It starts at 1900 feet you can see right here, it’s got the one nine which means 1900 And then a line means the top of it is 10,000 feet so you could be flying around right here under 1900 feet and not be in class Bravo airspace. Okay. Then as we extend out even further, we get the next ring here is starts at 3000 feet and extends up to 10,000 feet. Okay, so that next ring gets a little bit higher but it also still extends up to 10,000 feet. Okay? This next ring 3600 feet it’s is the bottom of that shelf, the bottom of that layer, and extends up to 10,000 feet. And then out here, it’s 4000 feet extends up to 10,000 feet. Okay? So you could be flying around, you know, like Michigan, this area here. And if you’re under 4000 feet, or right here, if you’re under 3600 feet, which you should be as a remote pilot, you’re flying, you know, no higher than 400 feet AGL. But you may get questions on the exam of knowing exactly what type of airspace you’re in, it might give you a line of latitude and longitude and say what type of airspace is this right here, at this particular altitude, they’re going to test your knowledge to see if you know how to read these charts, okay, you’re gonna have some cutouts, you’re gonna have things like this, there’s, there’s an airport right here. So that’s why there’s a cutout right there. These other things, these other circles here are different pieces of information for you that you can get from skyvector. So for example, this is called what is called a drum. This is a NOTAM that is relevant to drones. So it gives you the information about it. It says it’s the UAS operating area and so effective from surface to 1000 feet AGL in in three days, so it’s not anything that’s happening right now. It’s something that’s happening in a couple of days. All right. This one right here is what’s called a TFR. Temporary flight restriction. Looks like there is a baseball game on on September 9, at let’s see, let’s see what time 1905 Zulu to 1235 Zulu surface to 3000 feet AGL. It’s valid for three hours. So it looks like giants head cubs are playing Okay, so the game begins at 2005 Zulu, but the TFR starts at 1905 Zulu, so it’s an hour before the game even starts. So right here that there’s a TFR temporary flight restriction. No flights are allowed over the stadium from surface to 3000 feet AGL. Okay, so this is the Chicago airspace on the charts a couple of different things to think about when you’re looking at class Bravo airspace. Class Bravo airspace is identified using these solid lines, the solid blue lines, you’ll see here we’ve got one that is a dotted blue line, that’s going to be your class Delta airspace. We’ll talk about that when we get to class delta. And then you’ve got magenta, which signifies a you know a different type of airspace signifies your either your Class G or class E. Okay, so we’ve got the colors blue and magenta which are used in depicting airspace on the charts, okay. But what you need to know is how to identify is a dotted line is it is it a solid line? Is it a line that sort of shaded we’ll talk through all of those. The other thing you need to know about class Bravo airspace is that there is something called a mode C veil. So this solid magenta line right here indicates a mode C veil around the Chicago airport that extends for 30 nautical miles, okay. So with you are flying within this mode, C Vale, an aircraft needs a mode C transponder and an ATSB out on their aircraft. Now remember, we talked about the different types of technology that is prohibited on your drone, you will not have a mode C transponder or an ATSB out on your drone, okay, so just remember, those are pieces of technology that are used on manned aircraft, okay. And so when you are looking through some of the busy airspace around there, any type of any type of class B airspace, maybe try to find one that’s closest to you that you maybe you understand the geography a little bit because you can see that they put, they put some helpful information on here, they’ve got, you know, different types of, you know, areas that you might be able to identify like something like a like a tower or a building railroad tracks, that kind of stuff. You can go through that. So if you’re, if you’re more familiar with a different area, at first, what I would say is go and look at that particular area. So if I scroll out here, you can see the entire country. So what I’m going to do now is I’m going to go over here to Phoenix, because Phoenix airspace is a little bit more confusing. There’s a lot going on in the airspace here. We’ve got a military aircraft here, but you can see that it’s Class B airspace, but it’s not necessarily this upside down this perfectly upside down wedding cake, okay.
So you may be flying along the canal right here. And you have to look at this and say okay, what is where is the class Bravo airspace here the class Bravo airspace. You know what What what is it? What is it going to be if I’m flying that particular spot right here because there’s a line right here you can move, you know, maybe maybe half a mile or cross a street and you’re in a different type of airspace. Alright, so what you want to do is make sure you know how to identify what class Bravo airspace looks like on a chart, but then also be able to identify what are those different shelves, look at these, these numbers here to help you identify where’s the bottom of that shelf and the top of that shelf okay. Then you want to remember that there is a mode C veil around class Bravo airspace where you do need unmanned aircraft you need mode C transponder and ADSP out that may or may not be a question on your exam simply because it’s not a requirement for drones. But it may that question may come up as what is this? What does this line mean? So you’ll you’ll want to know that so that is class Bravo airspace in the National Airspace System.
