the classes of airspace are a b c d e and g k-- class a airspace begins at 18,000 feet and extends up through 16,000 feet so you can think of Class A as above the rest the class a airspace you must be on IFR flight plan and we also refer to these as flight levels because as in the airplane transitions in to class a airspace they would set to 992 in their altimeter Cosman window and they're actually flying at pressure levels instead of regular altitudes now the other air spaces we have our Class B and Class B airspace are the big air spaces that would be like Atlanta or Charlotte or Miami the really busy air spaces so think of B is busy and on the chart on the sectional chart they're noted by blue borders to signify where Class B airspace is in Class C airspace would be medium-sized airports such as Greer which is right next door to us columbia savannah airports like that are Class C airspace --is and on the sectional chart they're noted by magenta circles they have the two circles signifying Class C airspace Class D airspace is like this this airspace here um date they do have control towers matter of fact all three of these do Class D C and B all have control towers but Class B control tower is a little bit smaller and on the chart that's noted by a blue dashed line to signify Class B airspace class of Qi airspace is the one that's a little tricky Class G airspace by definition starts out the ground and goes up to 1,200 feet unless otherwise depicted so here would be 1,200 feet from the ground up now how do they depict it otherwise it's several different ways if you see magenta shady on the chart and what they do is they stop Class G airspace at 700 feet instead of its normal 1200 sometimes they don't want any Class G airspace at all and they will put magenta dashed lines to signify there's no class of G at all the other two ways that they would show Class G airspace is by blue shading and blue shading signifies that Class G can go up to fourteen thousand five hundred so fourteen thousand five hundred MSL mean sea level is the highest that Class G airspace can go up to if they want Class G airspace to go somewhere between the normal 1200 up to fourteen thousand five hundred they would draw a sipper line on the chart but then they write on the chart where that separation would be for example two thousand seven hundred or six thousand five hundred and so on so a given class of G is that the ground up to 1200 unless otherwise depicted how do they depict it otherwise they would either put on magenta shading to show that G stops at 700 they would put magenta dashed to show that no G exists at all they would put blue shading that allows G to go to its most upper limit of fourteen thousand five hundred and myself or they would put a zipper line and write it on the chart now the big difference between Class G and all other air spaces is Class G is considered uncontrolled airspace that means that the controller's ATC cannot tell you where to go how high to go or give you vectors give you other traffic advisors or anything like that it's considered uncontrolled airspace now where do you think that when that uncontrolled airspace goes so high that would typically be out in the Rocky Mountain area or the desert where it's very unpopulated and there's not a lot of airplanes flying now the other airspace I could draw on here yet is everywhere else if it doesn't fitting in class a/b c/d or chief then it be then it is Class E airspace so Class E is kind of the filler it's everywhere every other airspace isn't so in this little space right here that would be Class E airspace or an ear B Class E this one that goes all the way to the surface would be Class E airspace so in Class E airspace is everywhere one of these other air spaces aren't now let's look at the requirements to enter and exit the air spaces I already told you that Class A you must be on I far flight plan Class B the requirements to get in there is we must have a mode C transponder and the mode C portion of your transponder is where the controllers can see our altitude also we have to have clearance to enter bravo airspace so they must say you are cleared to enter bravo airspace okay Class C airspace requires too many communications so we have to have reuse so two-way communications and we have to have a mode C transponder again reporting our altitude to the controllers Class D airspace only requires two way radios many Class B airspace is do not have radar capability whatsoever so if they don't have radar our transponder that provides a good C altitude encoding wouldn't work with with what they have anyways so Class D only requires two videos Class C requires two a radio communication and the mode C transponder and Class B airspace requires the mostly transponder and clearance so what in the world is the difference joining two-way radios and clearance two-way radios are when the controllers repeat my callsign so for example if I called Columbia and I said Columbia approach cessna for 642 Juliet twenty miles west inbound for landing in Columbia replied back Cessna four six four two Juliet squawk four to six to proceed into my airspace when they wouldn't need to say proceed into my airspace because as soon as they have said my callsign November 4 6:40 Juliet I'm legally allowed to enter their airspace but on the other side of bravo airspace I could have called Charlotte which is bravo airspace and say Charlotte approach a Cessna 464 - Juliet is 35 miles to your Southwest inbound for landing in Charlotte could say Cessna 464 to Juliet squawk four two one two and ident but I'm not allowed to go in their airspace because they did not specifically give me clearance they have to come back to me and say Cessna 46 40 Julia you are cleared to enter bravo airspace so that's the big difference between two-way radio communication required in both DMC or airspace but B requires that clearance you must hear clear to enter bravo airspace now I told you Class G is the airspace that is uncontrolled the controllers can't give you headings or vectors they can't invite you to traffic or anything like that the rest of the air spaces are considered controlled air spaces but Class E is a little tricky because I like to consider that it has controllable meaning that if I want to participate then it is controlled but if I don't want to participate they don't have to tell me where to what to do if I'm IFR traffic in Class E airspace upon an IFR flight plan then I have to be controlled inside Class E airspace but for us we're learning VFR first and we have come to go out of G and E without talking to anybody and basically be uncontrolled until we ask for flight following from one of the ATC facilities that provide radar services until we ask for that flight following we're not really being controlled the next thing that we want to look at are the dimensions the standard dimensions of these air spaces classic on a I told you goes from 18,000 to 60,000 we understand G G goes to 1,200 unless otherwise depicted magenta shading shows that G stops at 700 blue shading let's G go up to 14,500 and the zipper learning would indicate as written on the chart where the GE separation is and then if there is a magenta dashed there's no G at all the standard dimensions for Class B airspace is for nautical miles from the center so that's our radius for nautical miles and the top is typically 2500 feet AGL that would be standard dimensions if it's not standard its depicted on the chart anyway they tell you how light it is and then how tall it goes now Class C airspace is five nautical miles from the center so five nautical mile radius and then the outer ring is a 10 nautical mile radius the lower the Shelf of Class C starts at 1200 which is actually the normal GE separation it's the same altitude and the top of Class C is typically four thousand feet Class B airspace typically goes up to ten some feet above the ground and usually goes out about 30 nautical miles and Class B has one additional thing is it has an OC veil and the Mota C veil you can think of it it's kind of drapes down around the airspace so top to bottom and the most email will be depicted by a magenta circle around all Class B airspace --is and it'll even say on the chart mode C and I'll say 30 nautical miles the next thing we want to look at is a 10,000 foot line now the reason I'm going to put this 10,000 foot line on here it doesn't really indicate the difference between any air spaces but something very particular happens at 10,000 feet the air speed rule changes so here's 10,000 feet any airplane flying above 10,000 feet can go as fast as they want to but as soon as you go below 10,000 feet and then the air speed rule slows down to 250 knots or less so below 10,000 feet you must slow down to 250 knots or less that rule applies anywhere below 10,000 with four exceptions one exception is through a VFR corridor a VFR corridor is like a tunnel of airspace that goes through bravo airspace so VFR traffic can come and go without meaning that clearance through bravo airspace the other place the airspeed is 200 knots is the same dimensions as Class B airspace but within those dimensions of Class D or Class C so for example if you are within 4 nautical miles of Class B or Class C and less than 2500 feet within Class B or C you must be too nuts or slower 200 knots and inside Class C would be four nautical miles 2500 feet 200 knots so the airspeed rule is if you are below 10,000 feet you have to be slower than 250 knots if you are within a VFR corridor 200 knots underneath Class B airspace 200 knots and within 4 nautical miles in less than 2500 feet within a Class V or C airspace 200 knots keeping that in mind let's look at the visibility cloud clearance rule that apply to these air spaces if airplanes up here can go as fast as they want and let's say you are flying along at 11,500 feet and there was an airplane in a cloud they may be going very very fast so the FAA would like for you to stay farther away from that cloud if you're up high because we need time to see and avoid if the traffic suddenly popped out of the cloud you remember we aide of both 10,000 feet is you're likely to see an f1 11 like a fighter jet and what that memory aids stands for is you're required to have 5 statute mile visibility that's the horizontal visibility you're required to stay a thousand feet above the clouds or a thousand feet below the clouds and one statute mile and each other on this night one statute mile away from the clouds so above 10,000 feet you're likely to see a f-111 for your memory aid that stands for five statute mile a thousand above a thousand below or it's one statute mile beside the clouds now once you get below 10,000 feet the airplanes are forced to fly a little slower so if you are flying around thousand feet and there was a cloud and an airplane in the cloud and the airplane popped out of the cloud and you still need time to see and avoid the traffic but because the traffic's going slower they allow you to be a little bit closer to those classes and your memory below 10,000 feet is you likely to see three 152s that's like Louis s no 152 flying around and what that memory aid stands for is you need three statute miles visibility so horizontally we have to have at least three statute miles you must still stay at least 1000 feet above the clouds but 500 feet below the clouds and 2,000 feet in the side of the cloud so above 10,000 the f-111 rule below 10,000 that 352 rule this rule below 10,000 is going to exist except for two situations if you are in Class G airspace the one that's uncontrolled it's very lenient and in the daytime if you're in Class G airspace they say you can be one you can have one statute mile and just remain clear of clouds so what that means is just don't go in the clouds you can be an inch from the clouds just do not touch the clouds and you only need one mile horizontal visibility to be legal again this only pertains to the day at nominee this Class G airspace with cloud clearance invisibility rule resorts back to the 352 rule again okay the other place that this rule would be a little bit different is in Class B airspace Class B airspace is the only airspace where they must provide separation between IFR and VFR traffic over in these other air spaces they're obligated to protect IFR traffic but not necessarily VFR traffic but in Class B airspace they give you clearance to enter and they must keep all aircraft separate so there's no way that two aircraft should be able to crash into each other in bravo airspace so because of that they say as long as you have three statute mile visibility you just stay clear of clouds so you have to have three mile visibility and stay clear of the clouds don't go in the clouds unless you have an IFR flight plan then you're an instrument-rated student so those are the four basic main visibility in cloud clearance rules above 10,000 the f-111 you need five statute mile visibility a thousand above the cloud a thousand below the cloud and a mile beside the cloud below 10,000 feet you're likely to see three 152s flying around and that stands for three statute mile visibility a thousand above 500 below and two miles beside except for you class of G in the daytime only you're allowed to have one mile in clear cloud and in Class B airspace three miles and clear of clouds now there's one more thing that we need to be aware of and this one is called a special VFR if you were in a controlled airspace and the visibility was less than three miles and or the ceiling was pretty low and you didn't feel like you could maintain safely 500 feet below the clouds you may request a special VFR a special VFR grant you the same as the class g one-mile clear clouds but you must request a special VFR and then ATC air traffic control can issue you and that special clearance if if there's you know if if there's not too much traffic around and they can allow you to have this reduced visibility cloud clearance rule and once they bring that to you it gives you one mile and clear clouds to come and go out of that particular airspace now it's not meant for you to fly across you know miles and miles using this special VFR that would not be a smart thing to do but if the case is we're just over that particular airport you're coming or going from sometimes the clouds may be lower there and there's a clear blue sky everywhere else that you just need if that's specially afar to kind of get underneath those clouds and safely land and you could request a special VFR the last thing we want to look at what we have all this drone up here is where else do we need a mode C transponder a mode C transponder is required in an above Class C so in anywhere in Class C airspace and anywhere above Class D airspace I'll just put a little key up here okay so my blue dot means that a mode C transponder is required that's when your your transponder can produce that altitude and coding so that the controller's know how high we are so in and above C if we are in under or above B so anything to do with Class B airspace we must have a MOS C transponder as well as that nosy veil so if we're anywhere inside this movie veil obviously it says mode C you would have to have your mode C transponder working properly and then finally anywhere above 10,000 feet so anywhere above 10,000 feet we need that mode C transponder excluding 2,500 AGL so if there were in mountain that came up this high for example and there was a little airport here within 2,500 feet of that elevation you wouldn't need a transponder so the MOSI transponder is required in and above Class C it's required in under and above Class B it's required anywhere above 10,000 feet excluding 2,500 AGL what makes the airspace so difficult to understand on the sectional chart is because we're actually looking at an aerial view of a three dimensional picture so I made a visual aid to help you understand what the airspace really looks like in 3d this would illustrate where Class G normally goes to 1200 feet so everywhere there's no other airspace depicted G by definition automatically goes to 1200 feet and then Class E airspace would take over and continue all the way up to Class A if you see magenta shading like here for example that is where Class G only goes to 700 so in this area Class G goes to 700 and then e takes over and goes up to 17 999 which is class a airspace and in this area class of G goes to 1200 then Class E takes over and goes up to 17 9 9 9 if you see magenta dashed like around the Anderson area or Spartanburg area magenta dashed there is no Class G whatsoever so Class E instead goes from the ground all the way up to 17 9 9 9 so class EE goes up to 17 9 9 9 in this area in this area right here G goes to 700 and he takes over and in this area G goes to 1200 and then he takes over now in our airspace we have two Class D airspace as side-by-side so this is to illustrate the two Delta air spaces this would be Donaldson and this would be Greenville downtown and they're placed right about here beside us is a Class C airspace its Greer and Greer's airspace the Class C has two rings the entering goes out five nautical miles from the you know from the center that's the radius and the outer ring that goes out ten nautical miles and this shelf here would start at 1200 above the ground and goes up to 4,000 well Greer's eight air space actually sits and of right on top of part of our air space so it looks like that and then finally we have bravo airspace bravo airspace would be Charlotte and it would look something like this so the center portion would go from the surface up to 10,000 feet and then there are many rings as you go up and on the sectional chart it'll tell you where the rings stop and start so for example in this area it shows that one ring starts at 3,600 and then goes up to 10,000 and then in another area it says that the airspace starts at 4,000 and goes up to 10,000 so you have to look at the chart to see where that airspace stops and starts so there's a lot of places on the chart that has an G airspace that only goes to 700 and you may ask well why do they do this why don't they just leave it all at 1,200 for example the reason that they do this is really to protect IFR traffic because IFR traffic is so important remember that I told you that on class G was uncontrolled their airspace and all the other air spaces are controlled or control the bowl so by them lowering the Class E airspace either to the surface or to 700 they're allowed they're able to control the IFR traffic down closer to the ground or all the way to the ground while they're on instrument approaches so I'll just fill in a little bit more of this airspace around us I'm gonna take these back out for just a moment slide this under here so you can get a full view so everywhere in this area is where the Class G goes to 700 and then we'll put Class C back in here and you can see there's a little space right here where e takes over again so underneath this segment right here G goes to 700 and then e fills in between 700 to the bottom of this shelf where C takes over and then E is above that again so hopefully this visual aid has helped you to understand how our aerial view of a three-dimensional picture really works
