TINA SRIVASTAVA: Great. Really great questions
during the break. So appreciate that. Thanks. So this morning we
started off with, you know, how airplanes fly. And Phillip talked you
through the aircraft systems and what's going on
inside an airplane that's helping that airplane function. This afternoon we're really
going to focus on navigation. So we're going to talk
about charts and airspace. And we're going to talk
about the flight environment and how you navigate through it. So let's get started
with charts and airspace. So aeronautical charts,
they kind of help you out with where you're going. So there are actually a
number of electronic charts. So there are a
couple of websites. So skyvector.com
is a great website that shows these charts. There's a search bar so
you can type in an airport, for example. And it'll zoom right
in to that chart. You can also get some apps. And I'm going to
pass around my iPad. There is a program
called Foreflight. So how many people have
used Foreflight before? So just a handful of you. So there are a lot of
different software. And Garmin has
great software, too. I'm not really recommending
any over the other, but this just happens
to be on my iPad. I take this with me
when I go flying. And so I have the app pulled up. So you can basically move
around and look at the map. And then I have a physical map
that I will also pass around. Which this particular map
is a VFR sectional map. So VFR is for
visual flight rules, as opposed to IFR, which
is instrument flight rules. It will have a whole talk just
on instrument flight rules later. But for now, when
you start flying you start with visual
flight rules, which means that you can look
outside the airplane, there are no clouds
obscuring your view. And so this is a very
giant and unwieldy document to have in your plane
while you're flying. And so this is why I don't
carry this in the plane and I instead carry the iPad. But this sectional, there
are actually different parts across the US where
there are very busy areas with lots of airports. And so they have
these sectional maps. So a section of
the United States. And you can look at those. And so I'm going
to pass this around as we talk through
the slides, which zoom in to various parts of
this for you to take a look at. OK, so I think the
most important part of the sectional
chart is the legend. And it basically answers
all the questions that you're going to get on your
exam about it, which asks you what all of these
different do-hickies are. So we'll zoom in to
a particular part. So this is about an airport. So there's a lot of
different data contained. And it can be a little
bit overwhelming. So when you look at that
chunk of text and data, you really can just look at
a sectional chart's legend to tell you what
all of that means. So this is the chunk of
text, numbers, and letters that you would see
on a sectional chart. And then over here it
explains what they are. So you can see
what each thing is. So ATIS over here, which it's
nicely defined over here, so you don't have to
memorize anything-- Automatic Terminal
Information Service, the ATIS, which is what
provides weather information. We'll have a whole talk just
about weather information and radar comms and
air traffic control. But you can see here that
there is a frequency, 123.8. So that's telling
you that in order to get the weather information
for that particular airport, you'd turn to the
frequency 123.8 and you can hear
what the weather is. There's a lot of
other data on here. So for example, it tells you
some Automated Surface Weather or ASOS, 135.42. So you know that you can
contact that frequency if you want to get the
Automated Weather Service. So a lot of this
data is listed there. So we won't go
through everything, because it is nicely
defined in the legend. Another area we'll
focus on are just what do airports look like. So over here is the
part of the sectional that has Boston Logan Airport. So you see all these lines
that are outlined in blue. So if you look
over at the legend, it describes exactly
what that means. So having these lines outlined
in blue, hard surfaced runways greater than 8,000 feet. And so it just tells you exactly
what that information is. And smaller airports
with shorter runways have these circles with lines. And the lines are generally
trying to depict the runway. And so the line
here will generally be aligned with what the
direction of the runway is. And when there are two
lines, that generally is representing two runways. So this down here in
the bottom right corner is a hand scan of Bedford. And so you can see the two
crossing runways here depicted here. So continuing along, there
are also abandoned airports. So the actual airport
has a X on it. And then you'll also see
this X through the circle to represent that it's
an abandoned place. So it still might be a good
option if there's an emergency and you're really looking
for a place to land. But it's not a good idea
if you have the ability to get to a functioning
open airport where you know the runways clear. Other information that is
provided in these charts and sectionals are whether
or not fuel is available and what are the operating
times of the tower. Because all that information
changes very frequently, those sectional charts
have to be updated. So that particular sectional
that I'm passing around is out of date. They get out of
date very quickly. For Foreflight, you can
constantly download new maps. So before you fly, you
kind of download everything and it refreshes, and then
you have it good to go. Another thing that a sectional
chart is really good for is identifying obstacles. So these are the kind of
descriptions of a tower, for example, or more than
one a group of obstructions. And so it kind of tells you
that there is an obstruction. So in the bottom
right corner, we see there's an obstruction right
here with this little triangle. And then it has two numbers. So it has 796. And then it has (335). Now, it explains in
words what that means. So the top number
is the elevation above the mean sea level. And then the one in parentheses
is the height above ground. Now, the way I like to remember
it, it's a little bit morbid, but it really helps
you remember it, is the number on top
is the altitude that will be indicated
on your altimeter if you hit the top
of the obstacle. And then the number
in parentheses is how far you will
fall to hit the ground. So that's a good
way of remembering what those two numbers are
and what's the difference. So any questions
about sectional charts before I move on to airspace? Yes? AUDIENCE: On the
previous slide, you were talking about
the blue outline. But then there
was a red outline. TINA SRIVASTAVA: Yes,
so the question was about blue versus red outlines. That's in fact answered directly
by different types of airspace. So it's a great transition. So I'll move straight into that. So there are different
types of airspace. And they're labeled
with these letters. So in aviation
speak, just to make sure we're being clear instead
of saying B, we say bravo. Because we don't
want to get confused did you say B, or C, or D? So you say Bravo. So we have these different
types of airspace. So uncontrolled airspace
is Class G or Class Golf. And then you have the
controlled airspace. So Class A, Class Bravo,
Class Charlie, et cetera. And then there's some
special use airspace. So the short answer is
the different colors of blue and purple represent
different types of airspace, as well as different
classes of airspace, and can represent whether
you're close to certain types of airports. So the way to think
about airspace-- now, there's a lot
going on in this map. I agree with you--
but there are a bunch of circles that are going on. Well, one thing
to keep in mind is that each circle is
actually operating at a particular elevation. And so one way to think
about it is that airspace is three dimensional
and a lot of people think about it as
a wedding cake, as an upside down wedding cake. And the reason
they think about it that way is that usually
around a particular airport, like Boston Logan Airport, there
is restricted airspace, right? They don't want you
to just fly through because you could interfere
with commercial traffic that's landing there. So they want you to have
certain restrictions when you're close to an airport. So the reason it looks like
an upside down wedding cake is that when airplanes are
being sequenced to come in, they're usually at
pretty high altitudes because they've been
flying across the country. So the restrictions on the
airspace start high up. So you can actually fly
underneath the Class Bravo airspace. So if you're flying
on this side, so we show kind of
to the left, you can be underneath the
Class Bravo airspace. And the restricted
space can be above you. But as you get closer
to the airport, the restricted airspace
goes all the way down to the ground, right,
to the surface. So it touches the ground
around the airport because that's where the
airplanes are landing. So that's why it's like
a layer of the wedding cake that is lower and lower
until it touches the ground. Does that makes sense? Great. OK, so here's a specific
answer to the question you were talking about-- there are all kinds
of different lines. What do they mean? So if you see a
solid blue line, that represents Class Bravo airspace. So that's like the airspace
around Boston Logan Airport is Class Bravo. So you'll see a solid blue line. And the solid magenta line
is Class Charlie airspace, which is for a usually
slightly less busy airport. We'll define it in a moment. But you might have
seen other lines, which are kind of these big fat
kind of faded lines lower down. And so that really depends. It usually is denoting some
form of Class E airspace. And depending on
where it is, it is in effect different altitudes. And we'll dive into those
minimums and descriptions in just a moment. So let's start at the
top at Class A airspace. So this is very high up. Pretty much as a private pilot
in a single engine airplane, you're never going to
encounter this Class A airspace, because it
starts at 18,000 feet. So it's pretty high up. So pretty much only big
jets, commercial jets, fly at that altitude. In order to fly
into that altitude, you actually have to have
your instrument flight rating. And we're going to have a
whole lecture devoted just to instrument flight training. But really what it
means is that you could be flying
through clouds where you can't see
outside the airplane to avoid other airplanes
and you're just relying on your instruments. It requires also a
lot more precision. That when you say that
you're at 20,000 feet, you have to be at 20,000 feet. You can't drift
off to 21,000 feet. You have to stay put. And the reason is that when
you're flying the instrument, you're relying on the
air traffic controllers to sequence you. And so they have multiple
airplanes in the same space. And they're basically
depending that you'll be able to hold the
altitude that they give you and the heading
that they give you. And they might put another
airplane relatively close to you, but
they know that you can both fly very well and
accurately so you're not going to hit each other. So they have all kinds of
airplanes up in the Class Alpha or Class A airspace. In fact, the pro tip is
that most people just call it Class A even though
you're supposed to say Alpha. Phillip talked a little bit
about the altimeter setting and how the actual
altimeter setting can vary from where you are. But since you have big jets
that are traveling very quickly and they might cross multiple
places with different altimeter settings, in Class A
airspace, you actually have everybody using the exact
same altimeter setting, 29.92. And that way everybody is
viewing the same altitude as the other person
at the same height so that everyone can make
sure not to hit each other. And when anyone is
supposed to be at 18,000, they're at the same altitude
as the people around them. OK, the next is Class Bravo. This is a lot more
relevant to something that you might encounter. So over here, it's right
around Boston Logan Airport. We heard Meenakshi talk
about her time talking to JFK at Kennedy Tower
right around New York. All of the busy airports
have Class Bravo. So the way to remember
Bravo is Bravo is busiest. So the busiest airports
are Class Bravo. You actually have to have an
explicit clearance to enter. Someone has to say you're
cleared through the Bravo. If they don't tell you you're
cleared through the Bravo, you're not allowed to
enter that airspace. Even after you get your solo
and you're a student pilot, you have to have a
specific endorsement. Again, endorsement is a
signature by your instructor that says you're allowed to
enter that particular airspace. Your aircraft also requires
specific equipment. And in particular, it
needs a Mode C transponder, which basically helps to
identify more accurately where the aircraft is. And then we talked about this
upside down wedding cake. So typically right in the
middle of the wedding cake, right around the airport,
it's from the surface to 10,000 feet. But it goes out wider
starting at a higher altitude. So right here near
Logan Airport, for example, there
are parts of it where the Class Bravo doesn't
start until 3,000 feet. So if you fly at 2,500
feet, you can fly right underneath the Class Bravo. You don't have to get
clearance to fly there. And if you accidentally
fly too high and you go through that
3,000 foot barrier, it's called busting the Bravo,
and you're in big trouble, and don't do that. OK, so again, Boston Logan
Airport is right in the middle. And then the rings
going around it show the different
rising altitudes. So how do you know
what the altitude is? So right in the center,
it has a 70 and then a line that says SFC. So SFC means surface. So right in the
center of the circle, it goes down to the surface. And then you see now
the number change to 20. So you can go up to 2,000 feet. And out here, 30. So that means if
you're at 3,000 feet, up to 7,000 feet is
where the restriction is. Below 3,000 feet, you're OK. OK, so now is Class Charlie. So they are also busy airports,
but they're not quite as busy as the Class Bravo airports. So for example, Manchester,
New Hampshire, Providence, Rhode Island. Here you're required to
establish two-way radio communication,
where they actually know the tail number
of your aircraft. So every aircraft has a number. If it's a US aircraft, it
usually has an N or November at the beginning. So you know, November 535,
you know, Alpha Bravo. And so you actually have to
say what your tail number is. So in this example,
808 Whiskey Tango. But if you just say
I'm an aircraft five miles to the south, they haven't
identified you in particular. So that doesn't
count as establishing the two-way communication. But once you have established
two-way communication with the controller,
you can enter without a specific clearance
to enter the Class Charlie airspace. So here's an example of that. So we have the
airport in the middle. And now we have magenta
lines instead of blue lines because it's a Class Charlie
airspace instead of Class Bravo airspace. So Class Delta,
one of the airports we've been talking about,
Hanscom, also known as Bedford, is a Class Delta airport. And so here you have to
establish two-way radio communication as well. It's indicated by
a dashed blue line. So this is an example
of Worcester airport. And you can see the dash blue
circle around the airport. OK, now Class E airspace
is when you start getting a little complicated. So it's not necessarily related
to a particular airport. And it really applies to just
other controlled airspace around. And the reason that
they have this airspace is to define certain
weather restrictions. So how close and far
you can be from clouds, what the visibility needs
to be in order for you to fly in these environments. So it can be indicated in
a lot of different ways. It gets very confusing. So we have both magenta blurry
lines and blue blurry lines. And the legend, of
course, is your friend. It defines exactly what it means
and why it's a different color. And you can see
those throughout. So sometimes like when we
were flying to Bar Harbor as we talked about earlier
along the coastline, you might see those restrictions
or around a small airport. So now let's zoom back
out this big picture. You might see a
whole bunch of things going on in the sectionals that
are coming around the room. It looks very complicated. But now you kind of know
what the little dots mean. You also see some yellow. The yellow indicates
a congested area. So there might be like
dense population over there. So that's relevant,
because you're not supposed to fly low
over a congested area. But it's also helpful
when you're flying around to identify where you
are, that, oh, OK, I'm over a city versus I'm
over just some fields. There are also airways on
those sectionals and maps being passed around,
which are indicated by these kind of blue lines with
an arrow on it with a heading. So what I mean by heading is
like if it says 132 degrees. And so these airways are places
that sometimes an airplane gets told to follow a
particular airway, might be the fastest way to
get from one place to another. So here's an example of an
airway on the sectional. You can see these blue lines
kind of cutting across. And then another relatively
confusing airspace is this Class Gulf airspace. And it basically is
uncontrolled airspace. You can do whatever you want. You might see this
over a desert. You won't see any of
this in the Northeast. There are too many airports
and too many things going on. But in the middle of the
country or in certain places that are not as
populated, you'll see this uncontrolled airspace. And you can do
whatever you want. So the memory aid here
is Golf means go for it. So here's the summary. So Class Bravo is that
upside down wedding cake. And then you get the Class
Charlie, Class Delta. And then Class E is
kind of everywhere that doesn't have
other restrictions. And then Class Golf
is unrestricted. Now each of those types
of airspace-- so A, B, C, D-- they all have some specific
requirements associated with them. So for example, we
talked about in Class A airspace you have to
be instrument rated. In Class Bravo
airspace, you might need to get a
special endorsement to be able to fly there. Then the entry requirements. So Class Golf is go for it. You can fly in
Class Golf airspace without talking to
anyone about anything. You just take off and you fly. Whereas we talked
about, for example, Class Bravo where you
need explicit clearance to enter the airspace. And then come all of the
visibility or minimums, as they talk about. These are prime candidates
for the FAA exam, because they're just things
you basically have to remember. So Class A airspace,
you already have to have an instrument
rating, which means, hey, there can be
instrument conditions, which means it can be cloudy,
you could be flying in a cloud. So there's no specific
visibility requirement. There could be zero visibility
and you could be flying. So that's why it says N/A for
all of the Class A visibility. But on the other ones, there
are some more restrictions. And so for example, when
you're in Class Bravo airspace, you have to remain
clear of clouds. The reason that they don't have
more stringent restriction, you know, that you have to be
1,000 miles away from a cloud is because they're
really watching everybody in that airspace
and moving them around. So they can generally
make sure that there isn't an airplane
in a cloud that's about to pop out and hit you. You're already aware of
all the other aircraft. Whereas when you
have less control and they're not air traffic
controllers necessarily talking to everyone, they
want to make you stay farther away from a cloud. Because if you're in a cloud,
if you're near a cloud, you may not see
an aircraft that's on the other side of the cloud. And then you could
have a collision. So there's also a fair amount
of special use airspace. So there's restricted areas. Oh, yes. Go ahead? AUDIENCE: How do you know how
far away you are from a cloud? TINA SRIVASTAVA: That's
a great question, how do you know how far
you are from a cloud? There's no good way to know. You're just supposed
to guesstimate really by looking outside the window
and looking at the cloud. If you're near an
airport, then you might know what the
runway length is. So you can use that to
kind of gauge distances. But there isn't a
hard and fast rule of knowing how far
you are from a cloud. AUDIENCE: What do you mean? TINA SRIVASTAVA: Well, clear
of clouds is really easy. You just don't go in the cloud. I would say there is
not a very good way of knowing whether you're
1,000 feet or 2,000 feet away from a cloud. In general, I use
those as guidance that, OK, I should
basically stay as far away from the clouds as possible. So if there's a cloud near
me, I'll turn off course. Whereas if it's just
clear of clouds, I'm willing to come right
underneath that cloud. Good question. OK, so restricted area. So some restricted
areas, restricted areas are either hot or on, or they're
cold and they're not active. So you only have to avoid a
restricted area if it's hot. So if you're already in
communication with air traffic control, you could just ask them
if a particular restricted area is active or not. There are also some
prohibited areas, like over president's houses. And then there are temporary
flight restrictions, or TFRs. And they can be
very complicated. We'll talk about a
couple in particular. So around the stadium, you're
not supposed to fly there. Around Disney World,
you're not supposed to fly low over Disney World. And sometimes if the president
is traveling somewhere, there will be a temporary
flight restriction. And it might not tell you
that it's the president. It might just say a
VIP is in the areas. So you're not allowed to fly. And then there's certain
areas that you just have to proceed with caution,
but you're allowed to enter. So alert areas, military
operation areas, and other warning areas. You just want to
be especially alert when you're in those spaces. And then, again, you have
a whole bunch more blue and magenta lines that mean
different things that basically describe all of the different
types of environments that we talked about. So I think the one you're
most likely to encounter is this one that's very
close to Minuteman Airport. So this is really
just west of Hanscom. There's a small area there. It's not usually active. But if it is, it's one that
you want to keep an eye out. And then we talked about TFRs-- the Temporary
Flight Restrictions. There are some that
are unpublished. So over stadiums or
over football games, sometimes you won't see
those published in advance. But in general, it's a
good idea to be aware when you're going over a stadium
not to be too low over it. There are a lot of different
resources to dive in. We already talked
about Sky Vector. There are a bunch of
different options here. And we're seeing
that going around. Just so I can see where
it is, who has the iPad? Oh, that made its
way pretty far. And then the sectional
I see over there. So we'll keep it passing
around all afternoon. So just a couple
practice questions to keep us on our toes, which
statement about longitude and latitude is true? OK, so A, B, or C. Shout it out. B. All right, that's correct. One rule I have, a
thumb, that helps me is that you think of
longitude versus latitude, which one goes in
which direction, latitude is horizontal. And I think of
latitude, it sounds like "fatitude" or being fat. And so your horizontal. So anyway, longitude
are the vertical lines. So they cross the
equator at right angles. So I'll leave this to
somebody that has a sectional or has seen the sectional. Let's see if you can answer
this question referring to one of those legends. AUDIENCE: So another one for
latitude is a bunch of ladders. It sounds like a ladder. TINA SRIVASTAVA:
Oh, that's great. So in the back, we
got know another way of remembering latitude. So you said latitude
sounds like a ladder. So it looks like
steps of a ladder. So that's why
they're horizontal. That's a great idea. Thanks. AUDIENCE: Also, longitude
goes the long way around. Latitude, at the
poles, is shorter. TINA SRIVASTAVA: Yeah, so
that was that longitude goes the long way around. Where as latitude, sometimes,
especially at the poles, is shorter. Very good ones. Thanks. So I'll ask, I guess,
the 30 or 40 or so of you who have already
seen the sectional, to be the ones to
guess this one. So A, B, or C? C. All right, good job. Very good. So these, if you take a look
at the legend on those maps, for the rest of you,
as it comes around, it should be more clear.
