Reading sectional charts, airspace classes, Military Training Routes, and chart coordinate math.
Exam weight: 15–25% of the exam (9–15 of 60 questions) • fails the most first-time test takers
This video walks through the airspace classes and the AGL/MSL distinction out loud, which is a good warm-up before the reference material below. Watch it first, then use the cards below — especially the Class B/C/D/E authorization rule and the AGL/MSL formulas — to drill the exact numbers and worked examples you'll need on the real test.
CALCULATE Ground = 500 ft MSL and drone = 399 ft AGL → 899 ft MSL.
CALCULATE Drone = 1,100 ft MSL over terrain = 750 ft MSL → 350 ft AGL.
| Class / depiction | What to remember |
|---|---|
| Class B | Solid blue boundaries. Controlled. Part 107 authorization required to operate inside. |
| Class C | Solid magenta. Controlled. Authorization required. |
| Class D | Dashed blue. Usually surface area around a towered airport. Read the charted ceiling; don't assume one universal top. |
| Class E to SFC | Dashed magenta. Airport-designated surface Class E requires Part 107 authorization. |
| Faded magenta | Class E normally starts at 700 ft AGL; below it is normally G. |
| Faded blue | Class E normally starts at 1,200 ft AGL; below it is normally G. |
| Class G | Uncontrolled. No FAA airspace authorization solely because it is G, but all other Part 107 rules still apply. |
The fraction is CEILING / FLOOR, normally in hundreds of feet MSL.
Class D's ceiling is printed as a plain number in brackets next to the dashed-blue boundary, in hundreds of feet MSL. A minus sign means "up to but not including" that altitude.
A closer walkthrough of the airspace classes covered in the card above — useful if the B/C/D/E authorization rule didn't fully click on the first pass.
Covers reading obstacle/tower heights, airspace floors and ceilings, and compass headings directly off a sectional — good lead-in to the chart-reading card below.
Walks through real figure-based sectional chart questions, applying the chart-reading rules from the card above to actual test-style maps.
Every MTR identifier on a sectional is IR (instrument) or VR (visual) followed by a number — and the number of digits in that number isn't random. It tells you, without looking at anything else, whether the route has any segment above 1,500 ft AGL.
VR1206) means the route has no segment above 1,500 ft AGL anywhere along its length. A 3-digit identifier (e.g. VR206) means the route may include one or more segments above 1,500 ft AGL.APPLY VR1058 — four digits, so by the rule alone you already know this route has no segment above 1,500 ft AGL anywhere along its length, before ever looking at a chart profile view.
This split matches how the routes are actually flown: segments above 1,500 ft AGL are developed, to the maximum extent possible, under IFR; segments at or below 1,500 ft AGL are generally flown under VFR — which is exactly why 1,500 ft is the line the digit count encodes.
Shows the lat/long gridlines on an actual sectional before the worked decimal-to-minutes conversion below.
Sectional charts print latitude/longitude gridlines in degrees and minutes, and a coordinate given as a decimal has to be converted to match them. The conversion is simple: multiply the decimal fraction by 60 to get minutes.
CALCULATE Those coordinates (47°40′N, 101°26′W) locate Garrison Airport on FAA-CT-8080-2H, Figure 21 — this is the exact worked example behind that question.
The reverse direction works the same way, as a check: minutes ÷ 60 gives back the decimal fraction — 40′ ÷ 60 = 0.667, confirming the conversion above.
One more, to practice the same pattern on different numbers:
Every quadrangle formed by a sectional's latitude/longitude gridlines prints a Maximum Elevation Figure — the highest elevation in that quadrangle, counting terrain and the tallest vertical obstacle (tower, antenna, tree stand), rounded up to the next 100 ft, with a vertical allowance built in for obstacles and terrain that aren't all individually surveyed.
MEF is printed as a bold number in thousands and hundreds of feet, with one digit printed at half the size of the others: the large digit(s) are the thousands, and the smaller, raised digit is the hundreds. For example, a quadrangle showing a large "3" next to a smaller raised "5" means an MEF of 3,500 ft MSL — one combined number, not two separate ones.
APPLY If your intended ceiling converts to, say, 2,900 ft MSL over a quadrangle with an MEF of 3,100 ft MSL, the terrain/obstacle in that quadrangle already sits higher than your ceiling — a sign to re-check your AGL math for that specific spot, not to assume 400 ft AGL is automatically clear everywhere on the chart.
Victor airways are the blue lines on a sectional connecting VORs to each other, labeled with a "V" followed by a number (e.g. V16) — low-altitude federal airways built for VOR-to-VOR navigation.
Because that floor usually matches the general 1,200 ft AGL Class E floor, a Victor airway doesn't typically change what's true at normal Part 107 altitudes (400 ft AGL and below) — but it does mean faster traffic may be transiting that corridor above you on a fixed, charted route rather than randomly.
A focused follow-up on Class E specifically, pairing with the floor-conversion math below.
The Airspace card above establishes the rule: a faded magenta vignette means Class E normally starts at 700 ft AGL; a faded blue vignette means it normally starts at 1,200 ft AGL. Below either vignette, the airspace is normally Class G. Converting that floor to an MSL altitude just takes the ground elevation and the same AGL↔MSL formula from the Airspace card.
CALCULATE Faded blue vignette, ground elevation 850 ft MSL → Class E floor = 850 + 1,200 = 2,050 ft MSL.
CALCULATE Faded magenta vignette, ground elevation 1,340 ft MSL → Class E floor = 1,340 + 700 = 2,040 ft MSL.
CALCULATE Faded blue vignette, ground elevation 120 ft MSL → Class E floor = 120 + 1,200 = 1,320 ft MSL.
MOA: military activity; not automatically prohibited to VFR traffic, but use extreme caution.
Restricted Area: hazardous/unusual activity; restrictions apply when active.
Prohibited Area: flight prohibited unless authorized.
TFR: Temporary Flight Restriction. Check current information.
NOTAM: time-critical aeronautical information that may not appear on a static chart.
Alert Area: charted to warn nonparticipating pilots of a high volume of pilot training or an unusual type of aerial activity — informational, not a flight restriction by itself.
Warning Area: the same hazard concept as a Restricted Area, but located over international/offshore water, extending outward from the U.S. coast beyond the 3-mile limit.
National Security Area (NSA): pilots are asked to voluntarily avoid the area; flight restrictions within an NSA can become mandatory if the FAA determines it necessary.
Controlled Firing Area (CFA): activities are suspended immediately when a spotter aircraft, radar, or ground lookout indicates a nonparticipating aircraft might be approaching — which is why a CFA has no charted boundary; it's controlled precisely so it never needs to change anyone's flight path.
LAANC provides near-real-time processing of eligible controlled-airspace authorization requests at participating airports.
Area 2 of 5 — Airspace & Charts • ← All 5 areas