Class B

Permission is required

Think of B for “Busy” (It’s busy airspace and it’s a big deal to enter it)

It’s depicted with a solid blue line on the sectional chart

  • It looks like an upside-down wedding cake.
  • Permission is required BUT permission is unlikely. This is not suitable airspace for paramotors.
  • Can we fly under it? Yes, that’s quite common. As long as we remain in Class G or E and we avoid flying over any congested ground areas (see FAR 103.17).
  • Can we fly over it? In theory, yes BUT it would be quite dangerous and careless. If you had a motor out, you would be forced to descend through Class B airspace and that could cause a major incident that you don’t want to be involved with.
  • Aside from the busy airspace, consider the fact that it’s probably also busy/congested down on the ground. Class B airspace is usually associated with big cities we shouldn’t be flying our paramotors over congested areas anyway (see FAR 103.17).

FAR 103.17 – Operations over congested areas
No person may operate an ultralight vehicle over any congested area of a city, town, or settlement, or over any open air assembly of persons.

Each section of Class B has a fraction number that indicates the floor and ceiling altitude of that section.
Class B looks like an upside-down wedding cake.
Altitudes are listed in hundreds of feet MSL. For example, 70 = 7000ft MSL

If you want to learn a little bit more about Class B airspace you can watch this 3-minute video clip.