Checkride Airspace Questions and Answers for the Private Pilot Oral

When a private pilot applicant fails on the ground, airspace is the most likely culprit in the best public tally we have. Larry Bothe, a designated pilot examiner who kept the paperwork for 157 checkrides over 23 months (almost all private pilot), found that 14 of his 25 failures happened in the oral, and the National Airspace System was the No. 1 cause, closely followed by airworthiness. His summary is worth reading twice: flubbing a minor detail is fine, but “a string of wrong answers” about where Class E and G are, or how to deal with MOAs and restricted areas, tells him the applicant does not know the airspace.

The ACS task is PA.I.E, National Airspace System. It asks you to understand airspace classes and their requirements (K1), chart symbols (K2), special use airspace, special flight rules areas, TFRs and other airspace areas (K3), and special VFR (K4) — and it expects you to apply them: identify the airspace on a chart, state what you need to enter it, and fly accordingly (FAA-S-ACS-6C, PA.I.E). So this guide goes top to bottom, the way an examiner walks you down a sectional, and after each class it gives you the follow-up question that usually comes next.

Class A: the one you will not fly in

Class A generally runs from 18,000 feet MSL up to and including FL600 (AIM 3-2-2). Every operation in it is IFR, under a clearance, with two-way radio and the transponder and ADS-B Out equipment the rules require (14 CFR 91.135). That is why there is no VFR minimum for Class A in the 91.155 table: the table literally says “not applicable.”

Class B: the only one that needs a clearance

Class B surrounds the busiest airports, generally from the surface to 10,000 feet MSL, and is built of a surface area and two or more layers, the “upside-down wedding cake” (AIM 3-2-3).

• Getting in: an ATC clearance before entering, regardless of the weather (91.131(a)(1)). “Cleared into the Class Bravo” is the phrase you are listening for; radar contact is not a clearance.
• Pilot: at least a private pilot certificate, or a student pilot with the endorsements of 61.95 (recreational and sport pilots with the required training and endorsements also qualify). At the airports listed in Part 91 Appendix D, section 4, the pilot in command must hold at least a private certificate to take off or land (91.131(b)).
• Equipment: an operable two-way radio, a transponder with altitude reporting, and ADS-B Out (91.131(c)–(d)).
• Weather: 3 statute miles and clear of clouds (91.155(a)).
• Speed: 250 knots below 10,000 feet MSL, and no more than 200 knots in the airspace underlying Class B or in a VFR corridor through it (91.117(a), (c)).

Class C: communication, not a clearance

Class C usually has a 5 NM core from the surface to 4,000 feet above the airport, and a 10 NM shelf that starts no lower than 1,200 feet AGL and tops out at the same 4,000 feet (AIM 3-2-4). The altitudes are charted in MSL, so on the sectional the numbers are MSL even though the design is built from AGL. Around it there is a procedural outer area, normally 20 NM, which is not charted and where participation is voluntary.

• Getting in: two-way radio communications established with the ATC facility before entering, and maintained while inside (91.130(c)). No specific pilot certificate is required.
• Equipment: two-way radio, transponder with altitude reporting and ADS-B Out — and the transponder and ADS-B requirement continues above the Class C ceiling, within its lateral limits, up to 10,000 feet MSL (91.215(b)(4), 91.225(d)(3)).
• Weather: 3 statute miles; 500 feet below, 1,000 feet above and 2,000 feet horizontal from clouds.
• Speed: 200 knots at or below 2,500 feet AGL within 4 NM of the primary airport (91.117(b)).

Class D: a tower, and hours that matter

Class D generally extends from the surface to 2,500 feet above the airport elevation (charted in MSL) around airports with an operating control tower (AIM 3-2-5). Entry requires two-way radio communications established before entering (91.129(c)), weather minimums are the same as Class C, and the 200-knot limit within 4 NM applies. Part 91 does not require a transponder just because the airspace is Class D.

Class E: the one applicants cannot locate

Class E is controlled airspace that is not A, B, C or D, and it is where most applicants struggle, because its floor moves. On a sectional you will find it in these forms (AIM 3-2-6):

• Surface area, typically around a non-towered airport with an instrument approach: a dashed magenta line. Class E to the surface.
• Transition area starting at 700 feet AGL: the magenta vignette (a faded magenta band). Inside it, Class E begins at 700 AGL; below that is Class G.
• 1,200 feet AGL: the blue vignette marks where Class E begins at 1,200 AGL instead of higher. Federal airways are also Class E from 1,200 feet AGL up to, but not including, 18,000 feet MSL.
• 14,500 feet MSL: everywhere over the 48 contiguous states, D.C. and Alaska (with listed exceptions), Class E starts at 14,500 feet MSL even where nothing is charted, but never lower than 1,500 feet above the surface.
• Above FL600: Class E again.

The VFR minimums change at 10,000 feet MSL: below it, 3 statute miles and 500/1,000/2,000; at or above it, 5 statute miles, 1,000 feet below, 1,000 feet above and 1 statute mile horizontal (91.155(a)). No radio contact is required to enter Class E VFR, but at and above 10,000 feet MSL (excluding the airspace at and below 2,500 feet AGL) you need a transponder with altitude reporting and ADS-B Out (91.215(b)(5), 91.225(d)(4)).

Class G: uncontrolled, and three sets of minimums

Class G is whatever has not been designated A, B, C, D or E (AIM 3-3-1). It is the only class where the VFR minimums depend on both height above the ground and time of day, which is exactly why the examiner asks about it.

Every class on one page

The five traps that end an airspace discussion

1. The ceiling rule inside a surface area

Even with good visibility, you may not operate VFR beneath the ceiling within the lateral boundaries of a surface area when the ceiling is less than 1,000 feet, and you may not take off, land or enter the pattern there unless ground visibility is at least 3 statute miles (91.155(c)–(d)). A METAR of “4SM BKN008” at a Class D field means no basic VFR departure.

2. Special VFR, and when it is not available

Special VFR lets you operate below 10,000 feet MSL within a surface area with an ATC clearance, clear of clouds and with 1 statute mile of flight visibility; you need 1 statute mile of ground visibility to take off or land. At night it requires an instrument rating and an IFR-equipped airplane, and it is not available at the airports listed in Part 91 Appendix D, section 3 (91.157). The follow-up is always about judgment: legal at 1 mile does not mean smart at 1 mile.

3. MOA versus restricted area

Bothe reports that applicants regularly get these backwards. A MOA needs no clearance: you may fly through, with extreme caution, and the AIM suggests calling a flight service station within 100 miles for its status (AIM 3-4-5). A restricted area requires the permission of the using or controlling agency to operate contrary to its restrictions (91.133); its times and controlling agency are in the special-use airspace table on the sectional. A prohibited area is exactly that.

4. Special flight rules areas

Bothe is blunt: applicants who have never heard of special flight rules areas fail on the spot. Know at least that the Washington, D.C. SFRA exists (AIM 3-5-8) and that flying VFR within 60 NM of the DCA VOR/DME requires completing the FAA’s special awareness training (91.161).

5. TFRs you cannot see on the chart

Temporary flight restrictions are issued by NOTAM (91.137 and the sections that follow; AIM 3-5-3). The examiner wants to hear that checking them is part of your preflight action, not an afterthought, and that a moving TFR (VIP movements, for example) can appear along a route you planned days ago.

Other areas the ACS names

K3 goes beyond the lettered classes. Be ready to define each one in a sentence:

• Warning area: hazardous activity over water, extending from 3 NM outward from the U.S. coast (AIM 3-4-4).
• Alert area: high volume of pilot training or unusual aerial activity; no permission needed, just vigilance (AIM 3-4-6).
• Controlled firing area: not charted, because the activity stops when an aircraft approaches (AIM 3-4-7).
• National security area: pilots are asked to voluntarily avoid it; flight can be temporarily prohibited by regulation (AIM 3-4-8).
• Military training routes, parachute jump areas, published VFR routes and TRSAs (AIM 3-5). For a TRSA, participation is voluntary.

How to answer so the examiner moves on

Examiners do not expect you to recite. They expect you to look at the chart they hand you and reason. A good answer names the class, states the requirement, cites where it comes from and then applies it to the flight on the table: “That dashed magenta line is a Class E surface area. No radio requirement, 3 miles and 500/1,000/2,000, but with a 700-foot overcast I can’t depart VFR under 91.155(c). I’d ask for special VFR, and with my personal minimums I’d probably wait.” If you can do that for every line on your route, the airspace part of the oral is over quickly.

The rest of the oral ties into this. Weather decides whether airspace minimums are met (see the weather questions), equipment rules decide whether the airplane can go there (airworthiness), and the scenario walkthrough shows how a DPE stitches them together.

Quick answers