Class Bravo airspace. As defined in the AIM, Chapter 3-2-3, Class Bravo airspace is generally that airspace from the surface up to 10,000 feet MSL. surrounding the nation's busiest airports in terms of IFR operations or passenger and plane men's.
The configuration of each Class B airspace area is individually tailored and consists of a surface area and two or more layers. Some Class B airspace areas resemble upside down wedding cakes and is designed to contain all published instrument procedures once an aircraft enters the airspace. An ATC clearance is required to ensure that the aircraft is in the airspace.
is required for all aircraft to operate in the area, and all aircraft that are so cleared receive separation services within the airspace. The cloud clearance requirement for VFR operations is clear of clouds. Since Class Bravo airspace surrounds the nation's busiest airports, it should be expected that the airspace itself is going to be the most complicated of those surrounding airports with a control tower. Just like Class D and Class C, Class B is also tailored to suit the needs of the airport in which it is designed for. Any Class B will have a surface area and at least two layers or shelves, and it will sometimes have that upside down wedding cake appearance.
A Class Bravo will start similar to a Class Charlie and have an inner core that will start at the surface and extend up to the top of the airspace, which is normally 10,000 feet MSL. Each shelf or layer of the upside down wedding cake will start at a higher altitude and extend up to the top of the airspace. Each layer will also have a lateral boundary that extends further out from the center of the airspace.
Unfortunately, the only common dimensions of any class Bravo airspace are one, a surface area and at least two layers, and two, a top altitude of 10,000 feet MSL. Now, unlike class C or D, this time the defined ceiling is now MSL or above sea level and not AGL. Since 10,000 feet MSL has other requirement changes, such as airspeed restrictions and weather requirements, these limits do coincide.
But we'll talk about those in detail in another lesson. To make it more confusing, this 10,000 foot top can be higher or lower varying from one airspace to another, all depending on the airport in which it was designed for. But for our purposes, we'll say the top of a Class Bravo airspace is normally 10,000 feet MSL.
Another numeric limit of Class Bravo to remember is the 30 nautical mile veil, but don't worry, we'll explain that in detail shortly. The lateral limits and starting height of each layer will be unique to each class Bravo, so as always, it's important to fully research each airspace you plan to operate in so you completely understand where all the boundaries are located. Now let's take a look at an example. Also, remember that when dealing with sectional charts, all altitudes are MSL or above sea level, unless otherwise noted.
Here we see Minneapolis International Airport. Class Bravo airspace is designated on a sectional chart using blue lines shown here. At first glance of the airspace, we see several blue rings and lines all over which can seem overwhelming. The key is to start small and focus on each layer and understand the floor, ceiling, and lateral limits.
Sometimes these lateral limits will be a uniform circle surrounding the airport, but others may be different and not so easy to follow. The outermost dimension can be seen here, and within this outline we can also see several other areas that define airspace boundaries. If we start in the center, we see the first layer shown here.
It begins at the surface and has a ceiling of 10,000 feet MSL. As we continue outward, there are other rings in shapes that provide the edges of each respective part of the airspace. The next layer here has another uniform radius and has a floor that begins at 2,300 feet MSL.
which is shown here with two digits representing hundreds of feet. The top is still 10,000 feet MSL shown here. The next layer here shows a floor of 3,000 feet MSL and a ceiling of 10,000 feet MSL. As we continue to move outward the layers of class Bravo surrounding Minneapolis begin to increase in complexity and do not have uniform shapes. This layer has a circular boundary for most of it, but we can see the northwest and southeast corners do extend further out.
This layer starts at 4,000 feet MSL and continues up to the same top as the rest of 10,000 feet MSL. If we look at the basic runway layout shown on the sectional chart, we see two of the runways are oriented northwest to southeast, so this extension of this layer of airspace is most likely designed to contain the instrument approaches for those runways. Now this information is not crucial, but it can help us better understand the layout which may seem somewhat disorganized.
If we have a sense of why, then we might be able to understand at least some of the method to what otherwise seems like madness. Even though this layer does reach the outermost boundary of the airspace, there are still other sections around this shelf that exist. There are small extensions that can be seen here, that start at 6,000 feet MSL, and others shown here, that start at 7,000 feet MSL, all of which continue up to the ceiling of 10,000 feet MSL. This class Bravo around Minneapolis is one of the more basic designs.
We can see there is a surface area with more than two layers, and the top of the airspace extends to 10,000 feet MSL. We also mentioned that 30 nautical mile veil earlier. We can see that here with a small magenta line labeled Mode C, 30 nautical miles.
Remember this line when we discuss required equipment shortly. Now if we briefly look at a couple other examples of Class Bravo airspace, we can see just how much they vary and get a true sense of how each is individually tailored to meet the needs of the airport it surrounds. In this example we see Philadelphia International Airport. The layout is similar with mostly circular boundaries in each shelf of the airspace extending outward forming that upside down wedding cake appearance.
Philly has extensions to the west and east of the Class Bravo, and we can see this follows the direction of the primary runways. The lateral limits of the outer ring do not extend as far as Minneapolis, and we can see the top of this airspace is only 7,000 feet MSL, which is much lower than our normal 10,000 feet MSL ceiling. The airspace is again tailored to meet the needs of the particular airport, in this case Philly, with its runway configuration and notable smaller airspace dimensions of height and lateral limits.
Another example we can look at is Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. In this case, the top of the airspace extends to 12,500 feet MSO, which is higher than the normal 10,000 feet MSO. We can see several layers depicted, but they have more of a rectangular shape instead of our familiar circular configuration.
Once again, if we look at the runway layout, we can see Atlanta's runways are west to east, which corresponds to the airspace shape. Now that we've seen the different size and shape of some various Class Bravo airspace, let's now look at what needs to be done before we can fly in one. That's all for now, but more Class Bravo coming soon, so stay tuned for Class Bravo entry and VFR weather requirements. Like what you see? Then like and subscribe to keep up to date with new videos and lessons.
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