Conquering Airspace: Part 107 Airspace Explained (Without the Confusion)

Airspace is the “final boss” of the FAA Part 107 exam — not because it’s impossible, but because most people try to memorize it instead of understanding the system.

In this episode, we break airspace down into a simple, repeatable framework: controlled vs. uncontrolled (permission vs. no permission). We walk through the airspace classes you actually need for Part 107, show how LAANC makes authorization simple, and explain how to read sectional charts faster by focusing on what the colors and line types are really telling you.

In this episode, you’ll learn

• The one question that solves airspace: controlled vs. uncontrolled (permission required vs. not required)

• How LAANC works in plain English — and when it’s the “easy button” for controlled airspace

• How to group the airspace alphabet so it’s not random: ignore Class A, understand B/C/D, and know G vs. E

• Why Class E is the “shapeshifter” — and how to figure out where it starts (surface vs. 700/1200’)

• The fastest way to read charts for Part 107: blue vs. magenta and what each usually implies

• The test-day “cheat code”: using the Airmen Knowledge Testing Supplement legend to decode symbols

• Why the FAA cares so much: low-level helicopters, medevac flights, and high-speed military routes

Links & resources:

• Part 107 Online Course: https://www.redravenuas.com/part107

• Blog companion: https://www.redravenuas.com/blog/part-107-airspace

• FAA LAANC overview: https://www.faa.gov/uas/getting_started/laanc

• FAA UAS Facility Maps: https://www.faa.gov/uas/commercial_operators/uas_facility_maps

• Airman Knowledge Testing Supplements: https://www.faa.gov/training_testing/testing/supplements

• Transcript

  Welcome & Introduction

  Welcome to the Red Raven UAS podcast. Today we are doing a deep dive into a topic that, well, I think it genuinely haunts people. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It is the final boss of the exam. It really is. And there's this one specific module that just acts as a gatekeeper. It stops enthusiastic people right in their tracks. We were talking about airspace. Yeah, airspace, the alphabet soup. Right.

  And before we get into the weeds, because we are definitely going to get into the weeds today, let's ground this for anyone new to the show. At Red Raven, we specialize in training, consulting, and compliance. So helping agencies and individuals get certified is a huge part of what we do every single day. And that Part 107 exam is not just a rubber stamp. It's a genuine aeronautical test. It is.

  And the section on airspace is where the rubber really meets the road. It's where people panic. I mean, I was looking at the forums online and you see people saying, "I can fly my drone just fine. I take great photos." But then I open the study guide, I see these charts that look like abstract art, and I just freeze. I get it. It is the number one friction point.

  It looks like a foreign language because, well, frankly, it is a foreign language. It's the language of aviation. But the goal of our deep dive today is to prove to you that it is learnable. Right. Right. It's not magic. It's not just random letters. It's a system. It is a highly structured system. So let's start at the absolute bottom. When we say airspace, what are we actually talking about?

  Airspace in Plain English

  Because say I'm a real estate photographer or maybe a construction superintendent. I walk out to my job site. I look up and I see... Just air. Right. Just empty open sky. It looks completely free. And that is a very common and very dangerous assumption. The sky is not just empty.

  Think about driving on a highway. The road looks flat and open, but there are invisible rules. There are lanes, there are speed limits, there are right-of-way rules. Right? You can't see double yellow lines physically hovering above the asphalt, but you know they are there. You know the rules.

  Airspace is the exact same concept. It's just vertical. And the consequences are a lot higher than a fender bender at an intersection. Much, much higher. Yeah. You have to remember, you are not the only one in that volume of air.

  Controlled vs Uncontrolled (Permission)

  So if you want to make this simple, before you even think about the random letters or the altitudes, you have to understand the difference between controlled and uncontrolled. That is the binary choice. Every single inch of sky in the United States is either controlled or uncontrolled.

  You have to know which one you are in before you even turn on the controller. And looking at the plain English definitions in the curriculum, it seems like the difference really comes down to one word. Permission. Permission. Okay.

  Let's unpack that. So in controlled airspace, you're not just allowed to fly because you want to. You need permission from air traffic control. Exactly. Someone is managing that airspace. There is an authority. You can think of it like a busy intersection with a traffic light.

  If you want to cross that intersection, you need the green light. You don't just go. Right. And uncontrolled airspace? Uncontrolled airspace means there is no air traffic control managing that specific pocket of air. No permission required.

  And for a drone pilot, why does that matter? It matters because in controlled airspace, the question is not "Can I fly?" It's "Have I been authorized to fly here, at this time, at this altitude?" And in uncontrolled, the question becomes "Am I following Part 107 and operating safely?"

  LAANC: The “Easy Button”

  Now, the thing that trips people up is that in the past, getting that permission felt like a paperwork nightmare that took months to get approved. But now we have a system called LAANC. LAANC. Right. It stands for Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability.

  But honestly, you don't need to memorize the acronym. You just need to know it is the digital easy button. It's just an app, right? It's an app on your phone. You drop a pin where you want to fly. And if you are in controlled airspace, but below the safety ceiling, the system can auto-approve you.

  So LAANC is essentially permission in real time. Exactly. The key is that it's permission to fly at a specific altitude in a specific location near an airport. And that gets us to why airspace is so important.

  The Airspace Alphabet (A, B, C, D, E, G)

  Because when people hear airspace, they think it's just random letters. It feels random until you group them. The Red Raven course uses a really simple hierarchy that I love.

  First off, let's just throw out Class A. Goodbye, Class A. Seriously, forget it. Class A is 18,000 feet and up. That is for airliners and high-altitude jets. Drones are legally capped at 400 feet from the ground. We will never, ever be in Class A. Done. One letter down.

  Now look at B, C, and D. You should group these together in your mind because they are all about airports with towers. If you are in Class B, C, or D, you are near an airport with significant traffic, and permission is required.

  Class B is for big. Big airports. Major metro airports. Think LAX, JFK, Chicago. Lots of commercial jets, lots of layers, lots going on.

  Class C is for crowded. These are busy regional airports. Still commercial traffic, still structured airspace, just not as intense as Class B.

  And then Class D? Class D is for dialogue. Dialogue. I like that. These are smaller towered airports. They have a control tower, so you need to be in dialogue with them, which for us means authorization.

  And then we have Class G. Uncontrolled. That’s where most drone pilots want to be. In Class G, you are the air traffic controller. You do not need to ask anyone for permission. You are the sole decision maker.

  But, and this is a huge but, you still have to follow the rules of the road. You still have to follow Part 107 rules. You still have to avoid other aircraft. You still have to operate safely.

  Class E: The Shapeshifter

  Now Class E is the one that trips everyone up on the Part 107 exam. The Red Raven notes literally call it a shapeshifter. Why is this one so complicated?

  It's complicated because it defies the simple logic we just set up. Class E is technically controlled airspace. But for us drone pilots, the question is always, where does it start?

  In most places in the US, you are standing on the ground in Class G, uncontrolled. But at 700 feet above your head or maybe 1200 feet above your head, the airspace turns into Class E. So there is a ceiling to the free airspace.

  But since we are legally limited to flying at 400 feet, if the controlled Class E starts at 700 feet, we don't care. Because we can't go up there anyway. Right. We are safely underneath the shelf.

  Unless Class E starts at the surface. Ah. So sometimes the floor drops out. Exactly. Sometimes, usually around smaller airports that don't have a control tower but do have instrument approaches, Class E goes all the way down to the dirt.

  If Class E starts at the surface, it is controlled airspace at ground level. And what does controlled mean? Permission required. You got it.

  Reading Sectional Charts Fast (Blue vs Magenta)

  So that brings us to the chart itself. Because people open a sectional chart and they see chaos. But you only need to care about two colors on that map. Blue and magenta.

  Blue is the strict color. Blue almost always indicates a control tower is present. If you see solid blue lines, that's Class B. Dash blue lines are Class D. But if your finger is on a blue circle on that map, your brain should just scream: tower, permission required.

  And magenta? Magenta is the softer color. It usually marks areas where there is no tower or it's marking those weird Class E transition layers we just talked about. Magenta is where things get nuanced, but generally it is less strict than blue.

  Now what about the symbols? Because there are thousands of them. Little flags, parachutes, glider icons, weird geometric shapes. Do I seriously need to memorize what a glider activity symbol looks like for this test?

  This is the best news I can give your listeners today. The answer is no. You absolutely do not need to memorize the symbols. Because when you sit down at the testing center to take the Part 107, they hand you a physical book called the Airmen Knowledge Testing Supplement.

  And in the very front of that book is a legend. If you see a weird flag on the chart during the test and you don't know what it is, you flip to the front of the book, find the picture, and it tells you what it means. That feels a little bit like cheating.

  It's not cheating. It's resource management. The FAA isn't testing your ability to memorize obscure graphics. They are testing your ability to find information. A safe pilot doesn't guess. A safe pilot looks it up.

  Why Airspace Matters (Low-Level Traffic + Visibility)

  Now let's talk about the why for a second. Why is the FAA so obsessed with this? Why is this the most heavily tested section of the exam?

  It feels like overkill until you understand the risk. The FAA's primary mandate is safety. They don't care if you get a great real estate shot. They care that you don't cause a midair collision.

  And here is the part most drone pilots don't understand: there are aircraft flying low. We are talking 500 feet or below. And we are talking about military aircraft moving extremely fast.

  Wait, 500 feet that low? Yes. Fighter jets, training routes, low-level operations. And if you are hovering there thinking, "I'm in uncontrolled airspace, I'm safe," you are dead wrong.

  A jet moving at hundreds of knots covers a mile in seconds. By the time you hear it, it is already on top of you. And at that speed, the wake turbulence alone can be catastrophic.

  And it's not just jets. It's helicopters. Medical helicopters. Medevac flights. News helicopters. Police helicopters. They operate low all the time. Which is why the visibility rules matter.

  People think, "As long as I can see my drone, I'm fine." So they go fly on a foggy morning. They can see the drone 50 feet away in the mist, so they think it's perfectly safe.

  But the visibility rule isn't for you. It's for the other guy. The other guy. The helicopter pilot who is flying low under the fog to get to a hospital quickly. They need to be able to see you in time to avoid you.

  Core Takeaway + Closing

  So for the listener who is sitting here thinking, "Okay, I get it, but I am still terrified of taking this test," what is the core takeaway?

  The core takeaway is pattern recognition. Don't try to memorize every square inch of the map. It's not about rote memorization. It's about logic. It's a system.

  Blue means tower. Tower means controlled. Controlled means permission. Magenta means nuance. Class E is the floor game. And Class G is your baseline, your free airspace.

  Use the legend in the testing supplement. Don't guess. Look it up. That is exactly what the FAA wants you to do.

  Now, you could try to piece this all together yourself, go on YouTube, find some videos from four years ago, and hope the rules haven't changed. You could, but that's a gamble.

  So if someone wants the structured path, how does Red Raven help? This is exactly why we built our Part 107 online course. It's designed to be that clear roadmap. And it's updated for 2026.

  We have a structured study path, an AI tutor that can answer your questions, and audio learning options so you can study on your commute. And we have a pass guarantee. If you go through our course and don't pass the exam, we refund your course fee. We're that confident in the structure.

  Thanks for listening to the Red Raven UAS podcast. Visit redravenuas.com for consulting, training, and FAA Part 107 certification, and check out the current special pricing on our Part 107 Course.

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About Red Raven UAS

Red Raven UAS was built by aviation professionals and real-world UAS operators who know what it takes to get certified and fly professionally. Our Part 107 online course cuts through the confusion of FAA manuals and scattered YouTube videos and gives you a clear, structured path to passing your exam on the first try — guaranteed. Whether you're a complete beginner or an experienced drone pilot finally going legit, we give you everything you need: study guide, practice tests, audio lessons, and an AI tutor available anytime. Pass the test, get your certificate, and start flying professionally with confidence.