Private pilots spend a lot of time in Class Echo airspace, so today's lesson is particularly important. Let's get started. Class Echo airspace is controlled airspace that's not specifically designated as Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, or Delta. Because of this, the top of Echo goes up to but does not include 18,000 feet MSL.
In other words, this airspace ends at 17,999 feet MSL. The bottom of this airspace can be kind of tricky though. We need to look at a sectional to see where it starts.
On most of the sectional, you'll notice that the airspace appears to be unmarked. In these areas, the Class E airspace starts at 1,200 feet AGL. So if I do a little math here, I can tell that the airspace starts somewhere around 2,210 feet MSL. Anytime you see these thick, hazy magenta rings, the Class Echo airspace inside of those starts at 700 feet AGL. So based on this airport elevation, the bottom of this airspace is at 1,666 feet MSL.
That's scary. Maybe I should have chosen a different airport. In both cases, you'll find Class Golf underneath this airspace, and that goes down to the surface.
That's going to be our next lesson, so if you haven't already, be sure to subscribe and hit the bell notification so you don't miss out on that. Let's continue. Sometimes on the sectional, you'll see these segmented magenta rings. Inside these areas, our Class E airspace goes down to the surface.
And if you were to look at these from the side, they kind of look like our Class Bravo or Class Charlie airspace wedding cakes that we've been talking about in the previous lessons. And that's because this airspace is designed to protect IFR aircraft who may be flying into these airports in the weather. For example, I would guess that there's some kind of instrument approach on the south side of this airport.
Here's kind of an idea how this protection works. If this guy's flying an IFR approach down through these clouds, this is kind of what the Class Echo airspace would look like. Now we'll go into the details on Class Echo weather minimums here in just a second. But in most areas of Class Golf airspace, you only have to remain clear of the clouds. Now you can see how this could cause a problem if Joe Bob's flying his Piper Cub six inches from the bottom of these clouds.
But that's why this Class Echo airspace is here, because VFR... pilots have to stay at least 500 feet below those clouds. That gives both aircraft an opportunity to avoid each other if the need arises. Now let's take a look at some of the Class E airspace that's a little bit more rare. If you ever see these hazy blue markings, the Class Echo airspace inside of that starts at 14,500 feet MSL.
And just like in the other examples, the Class G under that also goes down to the surface. Now if you get asked this on your checkride, you have a mean examiner. But above flight level 600, that's also all Class Echo airspace.
Bring me back to Moonrock if you ever go up there. Sometimes you'll find that Class Delta airspace reverts to Class Echo. See this little star right here? That means the control tower only operates part-time. When the tower closes, the airspace reverts to either Echo, Golf, or a combination of the two.
We have to check out the chart supplement for the details. When you open up the chart supplement, take a look down at the line labeled airspace. As you can see here at Joplin, the tower's only open from 1200 to 0300 Zulu.
All the other times it reverts to Class Echo airspace. Next, let's take a look at the weather minimums in Class E airspace. There's two different sets of weather minimums depending on what altitude you're at.
One set of minimums starts at or above 10000 MSL. Then below 10000, we have a different set of minimums. Below 10000, we have the same exact minimums as Charlie and Delta. Three statute miles visibility, 500 below, 2,000 away, and 1,000 above the clouds.
And once again, you can use your memory aid of three Cessna 152s or 3152. Then, at or above 1,000, you need better weather to fly up there. We need at least five statute miles of visibility. We need to stay a thousand feet below the clouds.
one statute mile away from the sides, and 1,000 feet from the tops of the clouds. Now, why would they go and change these weather minimums out or above 1,000? That's more for me to remember.
Well, below this altitude, most aircraft have a speed limit of 250 knots. But if Viper 2-1 is going Mach 1 inside of those clouds, and you're on the other side, you can see why you'd want more separation. I hope you enjoyed today's free pilot training on Class Echo Airspace. If you did, please fly your way down to that like button and give it a smash. And I'll see you next time.