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The Complete Remote Pilot Study Guide
Certification, airspace, charts and operations
Contents
Part I, Becoming a Remote Pilot
1 The Remote Pilot Certificate
2 The Knowledge Exam and How to Prepare
Part II, Regulations
3 How Federal Aviation Regulation Works
4 Applicability, Definitions, and the Remote Pilot in Command
5 Operating Rules and Limitations
6 Operations Over Human Beings and Moving Vehicles
7 Remote Pilot Certification and Currency
8 Waivers, Authorizations, and Airspace Access
9 Registration and Remote Identification
10 Safety Event Reporting, Inspection, and Enforcement
Part III, Airspace
11 The National Airspace System
12 Controlled Airspace: Classes A Through E
13 Class G Airspace and VFR Weather Minimums
14 Special Use and Other Airspace Areas
15 Flight Restrictions, NOTAMs, and Security Airspace
Part IV, Aeronautical Charts
16 Reading the Sectional: Scale, Position, and Terrain
17 Airport and Airspace Symbology
18 Navigation, Culture, Hydrography, and Relief
19 Chart Interpretation Workshop
Part V, Weather
20 The Atmosphere and Basic Meteorology
21 Weather Hazards for Small Unmanned Aircraft
22 Aviation Weather Sources, Reports, and Forecasts
Part VI, Loading and Performance
23 Weight, Balance, and Loading
24 Determining Aircraft Performance
Part VII, Operations
25 Preflight Planning and Risk Management
26 Airport Operations
27 Radio Communication Procedures
28 Aeronautical Decision-Making
29 Crew Resource Management
30 Physiological Factors, Drugs, and Alcohol
31 Emergency Procedures
32 Maintenance and Preflight Inspection
33 Night Operations
34 Power Systems and Aircraft Technology
Part VIII, Examination Preparation
35 Study Strategy and Test-Taking Technique
36 Practice Examination One
37 Practice Examination Two
38 Additional Practice by Topic
Appendices and Glossary
A Quick Reference Tables
B 14 CFR Part 107 Section Finder
C Acronyms and Abbreviations
D Resources and Further Study
Glossary
The National Airspace System
Every rule you have learned so far (the certificate, the registration, the operating limitations) exists inside a larger structure: a three-dimensional system of classified airspace that covers the entire United States from the ground to the edge of space. This chapter builds the conceptual frame the next four chapters will fill in. It explains why airspace is divided at all, what “controlled” means, and how to translate between the altitude your aircraft reports and the altitude a chart prints. Get the reasoning here, and the detail that follows is far easier to remember.
Learning Objectives
- Explain the four criteria the FAA applies when deciding how a volume of airspace should be designated.
- Distinguish controlled from uncontrolled airspace, and regulatory from nonregulatory airspace categories.
- Apply the hierarchy of overlapping airspace designations to determine which rules govern a given operation.
- Convert between altitudes above ground level and altitudes above mean sea level using charted elevations.
- Explain why crewed aircraft may lawfully operate below 400 feet AGL and what that means for collision avoidance.
- Identify Classes A through G by name, general location, and general purpose.
11.1 Why Airspace Is Classified at All
Airspace is not naturally divided. The atmosphere above the United States is a single continuous fluid, and an aircraft passing from Kansas farmland into the approach corridor of a major hub crosses no fence and sees no line. The divisions are administrative inventions, and like all good inventions they exist to solve a problem. The problem is that the amount of protection an aircraft needs varies enormously from place to place, while the cost of providing that protection (in radar coverage, controller staffing, radio equipment, pilot training, and operational inconvenience) is high. Applying the protections appropriate to Chicago O’Hare across the whole of Wyoming would be absurd. Applying the freedoms appropriate to Wyoming at O’Hare would be lethal.
In practice: the criteria also explain why airspace changes. When traffic at an airport grows past a threshold, the FAA proposes new or expanded airspace, publishes it in the Federal Register, and charts it at the next chart cycle. Airspace is not permanent furniture. An eight-year-old sectional in your truck is not merely faded; it may be wrong.
11.2 The Two Great Divisions: Controlled and Uncontrolled
The first and most consequential cut through the National Airspace System separates controlled airspace (airspace of defined dimensions within which air traffic control service is provided to IFR flights, and to VFR flights according to the airspace classification) from uncontrolled airspace, in which ATC has neither the authority nor the responsibility to exercise control over air traffic. Controlled airspace comprises Classes A, B, C, D, and E. Uncontrolled airspace is Class G, and Class G is defined by subtraction: it is everything that has not been designated as Class A, B, C, D, or E.
Airspace classes in profile, simplified. Figure 11.3 in the book shows the full profile.
5.2 § 107.51: The operating limitations
Section 107.51 is a single short section containing four limits, and it binds two people at once: the remote pilot in command and the person actually manipulating the flight controls, when those are different individuals. If you are supervising a trainee who exceeds 400 feet AGL, both of you have violated the rule.
Table 5.1: The operating limitations of § 107.51.
| Limitation | Value | Paragraph |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum groundspeed | 87 kt (100 mph) | (a) |
| Maximum altitude | 400 ft AGL, with a structure exception | (b) |
| Minimum flight visibility | 3 SM from the control station | (c) |
| Minimum distance below cloud | 500 ft | (d)(1) |
| Minimum horizontal distance from cloud | 2,000 ft | (d)(2) |
A photographer who holds no FAA certificate flies a 240-gram drone to photograph a friend's house at no charge, so the friend can list it for sale. Under which rules is this flight conducted?
Answer: B. Section 44809 is available only for flights conducted strictly for recreational purposes, and § 107.1(b)(2) excludes § 44809 aircraft from Part 107. A flight whose purpose is to support a property listing is not recreational regardless of compensation, so it is a Part 107 operation requiring a certificated remote pilot. Option C confuses the recreational registration exemption, which applies to registration, not to the choice of regime, with an exemption from the rules themselves.
Your job site sits on terrain charted at 2,150 feet MSL. The overlying Class C shelf floor is charted at 2,400 feet MSL. Operating at the maximum altitude allowed by § 107.51(b) without the structure exception, your aircraft would be
Answer: A. Terrain at 2,150 feet MSL plus 400 feet AGL places the aircraft at 2,550 feet MSL, which is 150 feet above the 2,400-foot MSL shelf floor. Operating there would require prior ATC authorization under § 107.41. Option B gives the shelf floor's height above the terrain (2,400 minus 2,150 feet) and leaves out the aircraft's own 400 feet.
Plate A4. Airspace Classes: how every class is bounded on the sectional, and how to read the altitude figures.
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