Airspace
Airspace Classes A Through G, Explained
✓ Reviewed against current FAA sources on October 5, 2026
In this guide
In short
Every airspace class exists to protect a particular kind of operation, and its dimensions, equipment requirements and weather minimums follow from what it protects. Learn what each class is for and the rules stop being a list to memorize.
Airspace is the largest single body of examinable material in pilot training, and the one most people try to memorize rather than understand. The system is not arbitrary. Every class exists to protect a particular kind of operation, and its dimensions, equipment and weather minimums follow from what it is protecting. Learn what each class is for and the rules stop being a list.
Controlled and uncontrolled
Controlled airspace is airspace within which air traffic control service is provided to IFR flights, and to VFR flights to the extent practical. Classes A, B, C, D and E are controlled. The term does not mean a VFR pilot is being controlled: in Class E you may fly without ever speaking to anyone.
Uncontrolled airspace is Class G, where ATC provides no separation service to anyone. Remote pilots should note that entry to the controlled classes needs an authorization rather than a waiver, and the two are different instruments. What matters to a VFR pilot is not control but what is required to enter and what weather is required to fly.
Class A
From 18,000 feet MSL up to and including FL600, over the contiguous United States and out to 12 nautical miles offshore. All operations must be conducted under IFR, with an instrument rating, an instrument-equipped aircraft and an ATC clearance. There are no VFR weather minimums because VFR flight is not permitted. Above 18,000 feet altimeters are set to 29.92 and altitudes are expressed as flight levels.
Class B
Surrounds the nation's busiest airports. Depicted on sectional charts by solid blue lines. The shape is tailored to each airport and is commonly described as an upside-down wedding cake: a surface area over the primary airport with shelves of progressively greater radius at higher altitudes, typically to 10,000 feet MSL.
Entry requires an explicit ATC clearance. The phrase is "cleared into the Class Bravo airspace." Being told to stand by, receiving a squawk code or merely being in radio contact is not a clearance. This catches people.
Equipment: two-way radio, transponder with Mode C and ADS-B Out. Within 30 nautical miles of the primary airport from the surface to 10,000 feet MSL, the Mode C veil, a transponder with Mode C and ADS-B Out are required whether or not you enter the Class B itself.
Certification: a private pilot certificate, or a student or recreational pilot holding the 61.95 endorsement for that specific airport. At a small number of the busiest airports, student pilots may not take off or land at all.
Weather: 3 statute miles and clear of clouds. The cloud clearance is unusually permissive because ATC is separating every aircraft inside.
Class C
Airports with an operating control tower, radar approach control and a certain volume of traffic. Depicted by solid magenta lines. Unlike Class B the shape is standardized: an inner circle of 5 nautical mile radius from the surface to 4,000 feet above airport elevation, and an outer shelf of 10 nautical mile radius from 1,200 feet to 4,000 feet above airport elevation.
Entry requires two-way radio communication established, which is a lower bar than a clearance. If the controller responds using your call sign without a restriction, communication is established and you may enter. If the response omits your call sign ("aircraft calling, standby") it is not.
Equipment: two-way radio, Mode C transponder and ADS-B Out. Certification: student pilot certificate or higher, no endorsement. Weather: 3 statute miles, 500 below, 1,000 above, 2,000 horizontal.
Class D
Airports with an operating control tower but no radar approach control. Depicted by dashed blue lines. Generally a circle of about 4 nautical mile radius from the surface to roughly 2,500 feet above airport elevation, with the exact ceiling charted in a dashed box in hundreds of feet.
Entry requires two-way communication established, on the same call sign test as Class C. Equipment is two-way radio only: no transponder or ADS-B is required by the class itself, though an overlying requirement or the Mode C veil may still apply. Weather is 3 statute miles, 500 below, 1,000 above, 2,000 horizontal.
When the tower closes the airspace reverts, to Class E if a surface area remains in effect or otherwise to Class G. The Chart Supplement states which.
Class E
All other controlled airspace. No entry requirement, no equipment requirement of its own and no communication requirement for VFR aircraft. You will find it:
- from 700 feet AGL upward, shown by the shaded side of a magenta band, where an instrument approach needs protection;
- from 1,200 feet AGL upward, shown by the shaded side of a blue band, and by default across most of the country;
- from the surface, shown by a dashed magenta line, around airports with instrument approaches but no tower;
- from 14,500 feet MSL up to but not including 18,000 feet;
- on federal airways, which are Class E from 1,200 feet AGL to 18,000 feet MSL and 8 nautical miles wide.
Weather minimums depend on altitude: below 10,000 feet MSL it is 3 statute miles with 500, 1,000 and 2,000 clearances. At or above 10,000 feet MSL it rises to 5 statute miles, 1,000 below, 1,000 above and 1 statute mile horizontal.
The reason the minimums jump is worth knowing because it makes them stick. Below 10,000 feet aircraft are limited to 250 knots. Above it they are not. Higher closing speeds need more warning, so the visibility and horizontal clearance both increase.
Class G and the full minimums table
Uncontrolled airspace: everything not designated A, B, C, D or E. In practice it runs from the surface up to the base of the overlying Class E. No entry, equipment or communication requirement, and the lowest weather minimums in the system.
| Distance from clouds | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airspace | Visibility | Below | Above | Horizontal |
| Class A | not applicable | not applicable | ||
| Class B | 3 SM | clear of clouds | ||
| Class C | 3 SM | 500 ft | 1,000 ft | 2,000 ft |
| Class D | 3 SM | 500 ft | 1,000 ft | 2,000 ft |
| Class E, below 10,000 MSL | 3 SM | 500 ft | 1,000 ft | 2,000 ft |
| Class E, at or above 10,000 MSL | 5 SM | 1,000 ft | 1,000 ft | 1 SM |
| Class G, 1,200 AGL or less, day | 1 SM | clear of clouds | ||
| Class G, 1,200 AGL or less, night | 3 SM | 500 ft | 1,000 ft | 2,000 ft |
| Class G, above 1,200 AGL below 10,000 MSL, day | 1 SM | 500 ft | 1,000 ft | 2,000 ft |
| Class G, above 1,200 AGL below 10,000 MSL, night | 3 SM | 500 ft | 1,000 ft | 2,000 ft |
| Class G, above 1,200 AGL at or above 10,000 MSL | 5 SM | 1,000 ft | 1,000 ft | 1 SM |
Swipe the table sideways to see every column.
Two patterns make this learnable. Three, five hundred, one thousand, two thousand answers Class C, D and E below 10,000, and Class G at night. Five, one thousand, one thousand, one statute mile answers everywhere at or above 10,000 feet MSL.
The one genuinely unusual row is Class G by day at or below 1,200 feet AGL: 1 statute mile and clear of clouds. At night the same airspace requires 3 statute miles and standard clearances. Candidates apply the daytime figure to a night question constantly.
Special VFR and speed limits
Special VFR permits operation in controlled airspace designated to the surface when conditions are below basic VFR. It must be requested by the pilot, since ATC will not offer it, and it requires a clearance. The minimums are 1 statute mile and clear of clouds. At night it requires an instrument rating and an instrument-equipped aircraft, for the plain reason that 1 mile and clear of clouds in darkness is an instrument flight in all but name.
Speed limits: 250 knots below 10,000 feet MSL; 200 knots beneath the lateral limits of Class B or in a VFR corridor through it; and 200 knots within 4 nautical miles of the primary Class C or D airport at or below 2,500 feet AGL. Note that the 200-knot limit applies beneath a Class B shelf, not inside the Class B, where 250 applies.
Sources: 14 CFR 71, 91.117 (opens in a new tab), 91.126 (opens in a new tab) through 91.135 (opens in a new tab), 91.155 (opens in a new tab), 91.157 (opens in a new tab), 91.215 (opens in a new tab), 91.225 (opens in a new tab); 14 CFR Part 91 (opens in a new tab) Appendix D; AIM Chapter 3.