you're watching the free pilot training channel where today we're going to dive into a lesson on class bravo airspace we're going to talk about what you need to know as far as characteristics rules vfr weather minimums and equipment required to operate in this airspace let me preface this lesson by saying class bravo is not the best place to learn how to fly but you are required to know the rules since as a private pilot you can legally fly here now that that's done let's take a look at some of the characteristics of bravo airspace the first thing that you'll notice is that this airspace is surrounded by big blue markings on the vfr sectional now as i mentioned in the last lesson you can remember class b airspace by thinking b is for busy but you could also remember b is for blue to mark that airspace let's take a closer look at the bravo airspace surrounding memphis you'll notice that it's divided up into segments and if you take a look at it from the side it would resemble an upside down wedding cake if you look inside each section you'll notice that each is marked by some numbers that look like they're improper fractions these aren't fractions though this is the altitude for the top and the bottom of that bravo airspace in this section expressed in hundreds so the bravo airspace in this section this girl is pointing to starts at 5000 msl and goes up to 1 0 000 msl this section starts at 3 000 msl and goes up to 1 0 000. now you'll notice that this middle section goes all the way down to the surface but you can see how i could actually fly beneath this air space as long as i stay below this lower altitude okay time for a pop quiz let's say i'm in this northern section at 2500 feet msl am i in the class bravo airspace the answer is no i'm 500 feet beneath the shelf since this section starts at 3000 feet okay now let's take a look at some of the rules in class b airspace first of all you have to have your private pilot certificate however a student pilot may fly solo in bravo with the proper endorsements and as long as they follow all the other rules the biggest rule is that you must be cleared by atc to go in there you don't have to be cleared to go under the shelf but you definitely have to be cleared before you can go into the bravo airspace let's take just a second to look at some proper radio communications going into this airspace if you haven't made too many radio calls a good format is who they are who you are where you are and what you want today i'm flying skyhawk 12345 at 6500 msl and i'm 40 nautical miles to the northwest i want to fly into west memphis which is a small airport under the class b shelf now legally you don't have to talk to anybody as long as you stay out of the class b airspace by staying below these altitudes so we either need to start descending to get below that airspace or we need to contact memphis approach let's give them a quick call memphis approach skyhawk 12345 40 miles to the northwest 6500 inbound for west memphis with the numbers now they're trying to find you on radar first they're going to assign you a squawk code then if you forgot any part of that previous radio call or they didn't hear it they're going to ask you for that information and they'll start giving you instructions and other important information let's assume i have a beautiful radio voice and they heard every word skyhawk12345 memphis approach descend and maintain 5000 squawk 0123 altimeter 2909 or 2. i'll answer this radio call in just a second so you can hear the correct response but first can i fly into the class bravo airspace now no you can't you must hear the phrase cleared into the class bravo airspace now let's respond to memphis approach we have to say our call sign then make sure you read back all the information they just gave you they want to make sure you heard all the numbers correctly decent and maintain 5000 squawk 0123 altimeter 299 or 2 skyhawk12345 then once they find you on radar you might hear something like this skyhawk12345 memphis approach radar contact cleared into class bravo report the field in site now we can go into class b airspace to finish up this radio call i'll just repeat exactly what they said cleared into class bravo we will report the field skyhawk12345 before we continue comment below if you found that valuable and you'd like to see more training on radio communications also don't forget to subscribe and hit the bell if you haven't already so you can be alerted every time there's a new lesson next let's look at the weather minimums for the class bravo airspace that means this is the worst the weather can be and you can still fly vfr for class b airspace this is three statute miles visibility and clear the clouds visibility simply means how far you can see and this can be impaired by smoke haze fog rain all kinds of different stuff so we need to be able to see at least three miles to fly legally in class b airspace there of cloud simply means that you can fly right up to a cloud as long as you don't touch it that's because there could be planes on an ifr clearance flying through those clouds and that wouldn't be very much fun running into one of those guys next let's take a look at the equipment required before we can go into bravo airspace first is a working two-way radio and that makes sense because we have to be cleared in order to go into that airspace we also need to have a working transponder with altitude reporting in fact it doesn't matter what altitude you're flying at if you fly inside of this magenta ring which is called the mode c veil you must have a transponder with altitude reporting the moti veil is a 30 nautical mile ring around an airfield with class b air space our last equipment requirement is adsb this stands for automatic dependent surveillance broadcast and it's kind of a newer requirement from the faa this equipment's designed to help air traffic control find your airplane easier anytime you're in the mote c veil you have to have working adsb and it doesn't matter which altitude you're at for this one either and you still need it if you fly over ten thousand feet i hope you learned something today don't forget to smash like for me and share this video with a friend and i'll see you in the next lesson aircraft calling safe position