How to read a sectional chart for the Part 107 test
Airspace boundaries, airport data blocks, obstacle heights, MEF numbers and latitude and longitude on FAA sectional charts, explained for remote pilots.
Checked against the rules in force on 2026-10-01About a quarter of the Part 107 test asks you to read a sectional chart excerpt from the FAA figure book. The good news: the same few symbols come up again and again.
Airspace lines
- Solid blue: Class B. Numbers such as 100 over 40 give the ceiling and floor in hundreds of feet MSL.
- Solid magenta: Class C, with the same ceiling-over-floor format. SFC means the surface.
- Dashed blue: Class D. The ceiling sits in a dashed box, for example [25] = 2,500 feet MSL. A minus sign, such as [-30], means up to but not including 3,000 feet.
- Dashed magenta: Class E starting at the surface around an airport.
- Faded magenta band (vignette): Class E starting at 700 feet AGL. Below it is Class G.
Airport data blocks
Towered airports are printed in blue; airports without a tower in magenta. A typical block reads like this:
- CT - 118.1 is the tower frequency. A star after it means the tower is part-time.
- A circled C marks the CTAF, the frequency pilots use to announce their position.
- The bottom line gives field elevation in feet MSL, a lighting code (L = lights sunset to sunrise, *L = limitations, a dash = no lights), the longest runway in hundreds of feet, and the UNICOM frequency.
- RP 23 means right-hand traffic for runway 23.
Obstacles and terrain
An obstacle label has two numbers. The upper number is the top in feet MSL; the number in parentheses is the height above ground (AGL). Subtract them to find the ground elevation. Obstacles of 1,000 feet AGL or more use a taller symbol. Guy wires can extend about 1,500 feet from a tower, so keep well clear horizontally.
The large blue numbers in each quadrangle are maximum elevation figures: a large 2 with a small 2 means the highest terrain or obstacle in that box is at or below 2,200 feet MSL.
Finding a place
Latitude lines run east-west and measure north or south of the equator; longitude lines run north-south and measure east or west of Greenwich. Each degree has 60 minutes, and one minute of latitude equals one nautical mile. Sectionals use a 1:500,000 scale.
Dashed magenta lines labeled with degrees, such as 6°E, are isogonic lines showing magnetic variation.
Practice on real FAA figures: the Charts tab in the AeroPass app lets you tap each symbol and see what it means.
Sources: FAA Aeronautical Chart Users' Guide · FAA-CT-8080-2H
Try 5 questions on this topic
Free sample questions with a debrief for each answer.
(Refer to Figure 20, area 1.) The Class C airspace sector directly around Norfolk International is labeled 40/SFC. What are its vertical limits?
Lines of latitude (parallels) are used to measure position
(Refer to Figure 20, area 3.) What is the ceiling of the Class D airspace at Elizabeth City (ECG)?
(Refer to Figure 21, area 2.) Area 2 lies away from any airport, with no vignette shading nearby. What airspace is it from the surface up to 1,200 feet AGL?
(Refer to Figure 22.) You will fly a drone near Sandpoint Airport (SZT) and want to monitor local traffic. Which frequency should you listen to?
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