"Controlled Airspace"?
- Thread starter JerryofWV
- Start date
Recreational flying doesn't fall under the same airspace restrictions as Part 107.
For recreational flying, if you are within 5 miles of an airport then you must notify (not request permission) the airport operator and tower (if there is one) before flying. It doesn't matter what class of airspace you are in - that's all you have to do. You could be in trouble with the FAA for endangering the safety of the national airspace system if you put other aircraft at risk in doing so, such as flying on or close to an extended runway centerline, or fly up into the pattern (typically at least 800 ft AGL), but the airport cannot prohibit you from flying.
Under Part 107 you are entirely governed by airspace rules, which can either be less or more restrictive. For example, near an airport with no surface controlled airspace, you can fly anywhere in the vicinity without any requests or notifications. However, if the airport is surrounded by surface B, C, D or E airspace, then you cannot fly in that airspace at all without prior FAA (not airport) authorization or waiver.
Not true. No hobbyist are NOT to fly in class B airspace without prior approval, which, your probably not going to get.
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Good catch - yes. That restriction seems only to be mentioned in one of the FAA guidance documents, and I tend to forget it. No recreational Class B flying without special ATC permission and coordination which, I agree, is unlikely to be forthcoming. C, D, E and G only.
That's correct.
Class B/Bravo which is also the BUSIEST airspace we have, is a BEAR to fly in with manned aircraft before you add ummanned (and non communication equipped aircraft).
Here's where it's listed on the FAA website (although it should be in much more prominent fashion than at the bottom of a page as an AFTER THOUGHT)
~Bold and color emphasis added by BigAl07~
Airspace Restrictions
Airports
Recreational operators are required to give notice for flights within five miles of an airport to BOTH the airport operator and air traffic control tower, if the airport has a tower. However, recreational operations are not permitted in Class B airspace around most major airports without specific air traffic permission and coordination.
There's been a lot of fur flying on some of the threads that requiring this from hobby fliers in Class B goes against Congressional direction to the FAA not to impose more rules on hobby flying. But no one has argued that the FAA requiring of airports before flying was not ok. IMO, they haven't created more rules, but clarified how that rule would be applied in a specific situation. The quoted passage doesn't say you can't fly in Class B space, just that it has to be approve and coordinated. Implication is that with the proper approach hobby flying could be possible. I'll bet that somewhere in some Class B space there is an RC club flying field.
Question- In non towered airports, civil or private, if the airport has no fat magenta line around it, or has the fat magenta line at five nautical miles, but the line is not dashed/broken? does that mean that the floor of the class E airspace is 700' or surface. In short, can I fly under part 107 around these two types of "airstrips."
The dashed magenta line is surface Class E.
If it has the fat magenta line, then the Class E starts at 700 ft AGL. If it has no line around it, and if it is not in a much larger 700 ft AGL Class E area that you cannot see the boundaries of, then it is almost certainly under 1200 ft AGL Class E, which is not shown on sectionals. Either way it is Class G at the surface, and you can fly there.
sar104, thank you very much. That's what i thought, but I'm going to take my part 107 test next week and I wanted to make sure i have a good handle on sectional charts! Thanks again for your response.
Regarding flight ops in Class E, you can completely ignore the "fat magenta" outlines. As said, they indicate areas where the Class E dips down to 700 feet. The only Class E that concerns you as a Part 107 pilot is the Class E surrounded by a dashed magenta line. That indicates Class E at the surface and an airspace authorization is required to fly there.
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