77 Upside Down Wedding Cake Airspace

February 23, 2022

As pilots we are all used to looking at Class B airspace as an upside-down wedding cake. Controlled airspace is established to protect the flight paths and procedures of IFR aircraft.

Think Like An Upside Down Wedding Cake Three Tiered Airport Advocacy Works

There are two types of controlled airspace.

Upside down wedding cake airspace. The reason is the way Class B airspace is designed is in layers that progressively get wider the higher up from the surface you go. But unlike the map the airspace itself is three dimensional. A larger ring sits on top of that and a still larger ring above that.

In some instances this allows VFR aircraft to fly directly through the center of the upside-down wedding cake of many Class B airspace configurations. The outer ring is 10 nautical miles from PDX. It has the shape of an upside-down wedding cake picture a giant round six-tiered cake with the skinny end sitting on SFO and the.

The Upside-Down Wedding Cake The concept behind this layering is that it allows aircraft to remain in Class Charlie airspace throughout the descent as they approach the airport. The main idea is that there are layers that get progressively wider and have a higher floor than inner layers. An upside down wedding cake see diagram.

The FAAs notorious Upside Down Wedding Cake Chart Class A The FAA defines the upper limit at which you may fly your UAV at 400 above ground level AGL so needless to say you may not fly your drone in Class A airspace. I have long believed that in terms of airport advocacy we need to subscribe to a three-tiered model. The class of airspace will depend on how busy that airspace is expected to be and the services required.

The upper limit of Class E airspace is up to but not including 18000 feet MSL or when Class E airspace runs into the upside-down wedding cake airspace of Class B or Class C. The diagram below is referred to as the upside-down wedding cake. Class B airspace is centered around major commercial airports.

Class C airspace is a smaller two-tier cake that also begins at the surface and usually tops at 4000 feet AGL or at the Class B airspace that overlies it. And further out it it doesnt go to the surface so you may be ok to fly. Class C airspace has a very distinctive shape often referred to as an upside-down wedding cake because its inner and outer rings stack to look like an inverted layer cake.

Class B airspace surrounds large busy airports. Class B is where the big airplanes land. - Shaped like an upside down wedding cake with only 2 tiers - 5NM Radius core surface area Surface to 4000 ft - 10NM Radius 1200 - 4000 ft - 20NM Radius of Outer Area.

Louis pictured below the inner ring extends from the surface up to 8000 feet MSL. Right next to the airport the airspace is from a certain altitude to the ground. Airport-controlled airspace is determined in distance by blocks of altitude.

Portland International Airport PDX controlled airspace in magenta. We often refer to the design and shape of Class B airspace as an upside down wedding cake. Class B Airspace and its upside down wedding cake swath of no-fly zone.

It depends on how far you are from the airport the airspace is like an upside down wedding cake. The TCA is often referred to as the upside down wedding cake and you can see why in the diagram from Transport Canada above. For a drone pilot if youd like to operate in Class E airspace youll need to get permission.

Control zones CTRs the bottom tier of the cake touching the surface of the earth and control areas CTAs the upper tiers. Its that upside-down wedding cake design that reaches from the surface to around 10000 feet AGL in most cases. The inner ring commonly referred to as the inner core usually has a 5 nautical mile radius and extends from the surface area up.

Its shape is generally an upside-down wedding cake but it can vary quite a bit. In the example above the white arrows are pointing to each circle of the class B airspace. Class B airspace is shown with a solid blue line around major airports in circles radiating outward.

It provides protection for faster aircraft while allowing smaller aircraft to operate out of. Class A airspace is above 18000no problem staying clear of that. Hudson River Flyway The Hudson River flyway is perhaps the simplest of them all and as a result of the latest accident the most infamous.

For example in St. We understand that the first level extends from the ground upward. Each of these circles have different elevations that create an upside down wedding cake with each layer of.

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