Creating airspace files for paragliding is something I avoided for a long time. I've tried to follow several sets of instructions without success, so I finally decided to decode the various links that I had been saving up and get to work and figure it out.
What airspace should paragliding pilots be concerned with?
This is a review of the different types of airspace in the US:
Class A: Anything over 18,000 feet
Class B: Around large airports and is usually in the shape of an inverted wedding cake. This airspace normally begins at the surface and becomes larger with successive layers/altitude.
Class C: Around airports (smaller ones than in B). Airspace is only in effect during the operating hours of the tower. Upper vertical limit is usually 4000 feet above the airport surface. Core surface area has a radius of 5 nautical miles or 9km and this goes to the ceiling of the Class C. An upper shelf has a radius of 10 nautical miles and extends from as low as 1200feet to the ceiling of the airspace.
Class D: Cylindrical and extends to 2500 feet above the ground. Outer radius is variable but typically 4 nautical miles. Class D airspace reverts to Class E when the tower is closed.
Class E: In most areas of the US, Class E extends from 1200 feet to 18,000 feet. In some areas Class E starts at 2400 feet. In the mountains Class may start at 14,500 feet. Typically we fly in Class E.
Class F: Not applicable in the US
Class G: This includes all airspace below flight level 600 not classified in Class A, B, C, D, or E. Typically class G is what we fly in unless you get stinking high.
Prohibited: Entry forbidden in all circumstances. Dont go there.
Restricted: Need special permission to enter. Dont go there.
Danger: This includes MOA (military operating areas in which military activities are regularly conducted.
CTR:
Wave Window: Usually a wave window refers to a waiver of the 18000 feet ceiling to allow sailplanes to climb in wave without filing IFR. It may require a transponder, or not, at the discretion of ATC.
Glider Prohibited:
Other: This has a huge mixed bag of different types of airspace issues. Here is a summary of some:
NSA: National Security Areas established by NOTAMS
MTR: Military training routes. These are one-way high speed routes for military traffic
ADIZ: Air defense identification zone. These are over coastal waters of the US and along the border of Mexico
DZ: Parachute drop zone. Watch for falling objects and fast diving jump planes.
Local airport Advisory areas: occur at airports where there is no control tower
TFR: temporary flight restrictions. (president in town?)
Aaron Price has created a very good summary of most of the information required for creating airspace files on the SoCal XC League site. The process below is a simplified version of his information. (Airspace for Dummies?)
Some instruments can download airspace files directly from the Web. I have an Flymaster Nav and am using XCTrack on an Android phone. XCTrack can download files directly from the web however it doesn't have airspace files for the USA listed, possibly because they are too big - over 9MB.
There also used to be a customer airspace file generator for the USA on a private web site here where you could select an area and autogenerate a file. This site seems to be no longer operational, so I had to figure out how to create a smaller file for my local area.
Here's how to create a custom Airspace file
4. Next I downloaded Notepad++ to make editing the file easier (recommendation from Aaron Price's instructions).
5. In Notepad++ I opened the USA Airspace file, then also created a new file for the local airspace I wanted.
5. To determine which airspaces to select, I opened the .KMZ in Google Earth. In Google Earth. Mouse over an airspace and the name will pop up. On this image you can see the airspace around where we fly at Marshall Peak, along with the Leonardo tracklog of a great flight from local pilot Joe Popper. I highlighted the Riverside March Field Class D airspace.
6. In the USA Airspace file I used the search function to search for the airspace name listed in Google Earth. Notepad++ highlights the searched text in green which makes things easy to find.
7. You can see from the file how the airspace is generated using the OpenAir (.FAS) format. Aaron's notes on the SoCal League site give a more detailed explanation. It's well worth studying the parameters as they are not difficult to understand. There is a letter (shown in red below) then the associated data.
For example:
*
*## RIVERSIDE MARCH FIELD CLASS D ## comment to provide additional explanation
AC D this means class D airspace
SB 0,255,0 I'm not sure what this field is...
AN RIVERSIDE MARCH FIELD CLASS D the name that appears in the map
AL SFC Airspace floor - SFC meaning the surface or ground level
AH 4000 MSL Airspace ceiling in ft (MSL stands for Mean Sea Level)
V X=33:52:50 N N 117:15:34 W is the location of the center of the circle
DC 5.0 means "draw circle with 5 Nautical mile diameter around the location in the V parameter
*
8. Highlight that airspace text then copy and paste into the local file. Make sure you include the * before and after each piece of text to separate each entry
9. Repeat the process for different airspaces required.
10. To test the file, Convert OpenAir to Google Map. Select your new file and click the Submit button. This
10. To load the file, go to Loading Airspace into XCTrack on an Android Phone or Loading Airspace to Flymaster
What airspace should paragliding pilots be concerned with?
This is a review of the different types of airspace in the US:
Class A: Anything over 18,000 feet
Class B: Around large airports and is usually in the shape of an inverted wedding cake. This airspace normally begins at the surface and becomes larger with successive layers/altitude.
Class C: Around airports (smaller ones than in B). Airspace is only in effect during the operating hours of the tower. Upper vertical limit is usually 4000 feet above the airport surface. Core surface area has a radius of 5 nautical miles or 9km and this goes to the ceiling of the Class C. An upper shelf has a radius of 10 nautical miles and extends from as low as 1200feet to the ceiling of the airspace.
Class D: Cylindrical and extends to 2500 feet above the ground. Outer radius is variable but typically 4 nautical miles. Class D airspace reverts to Class E when the tower is closed.
Class E: In most areas of the US, Class E extends from 1200 feet to 18,000 feet. In some areas Class E starts at 2400 feet. In the mountains Class may start at 14,500 feet. Typically we fly in Class E.
Class F: Not applicable in the US
Class G: This includes all airspace below flight level 600 not classified in Class A, B, C, D, or E. Typically class G is what we fly in unless you get stinking high.
Prohibited: Entry forbidden in all circumstances. Dont go there.
Restricted: Need special permission to enter. Dont go there.
Danger: This includes MOA (military operating areas in which military activities are regularly conducted.
CTR:
Wave Window: Usually a wave window refers to a waiver of the 18000 feet ceiling to allow sailplanes to climb in wave without filing IFR. It may require a transponder, or not, at the discretion of ATC.
Glider Prohibited:
Other: This has a huge mixed bag of different types of airspace issues. Here is a summary of some:
NSA: National Security Areas established by NOTAMS
MTR: Military training routes. These are one-way high speed routes for military traffic
ADIZ: Air defense identification zone. These are over coastal waters of the US and along the border of Mexico
DZ: Parachute drop zone. Watch for falling objects and fast diving jump planes.
Local airport Advisory areas: occur at airports where there is no control tower
TFR: temporary flight restrictions. (president in town?)
Aaron Price has created a very good summary of most of the information required for creating airspace files on the SoCal XC League site. The process below is a simplified version of his information. (Airspace for Dummies?)
Some instruments can download airspace files directly from the Web. I have an Flymaster Nav and am using XCTrack on an Android phone. XCTrack can download files directly from the web however it doesn't have airspace files for the USA listed, possibly because they are too big - over 9MB.
There also used to be a customer airspace file generator for the USA on a private web site here where you could select an area and autogenerate a file. This site seems to be no longer operational, so I had to figure out how to create a smaller file for my local area.
Here's how to create a custom Airspace file
1. I started out with USA airspace located at soaringdata.info.
2. From this site I downloaded two files in the section for Hanglider/Paraglider/Ultralight pilots
- OpenAir(.txt) format. This is the file you can use to edit.
- KMZ Format for Google Earth. This is the reference for which airspaces you want to select in the text file
5. In Notepad++ I opened the USA Airspace file, then also created a new file for the local airspace I wanted.
5. To determine which airspaces to select, I opened the .KMZ in Google Earth. In Google Earth. Mouse over an airspace and the name will pop up. On this image you can see the airspace around where we fly at Marshall Peak, along with the Leonardo tracklog of a great flight from local pilot Joe Popper. I highlighted the Riverside March Field Class D airspace.
6. In the USA Airspace file I used the search function to search for the airspace name listed in Google Earth. Notepad++ highlights the searched text in green which makes things easy to find.
7. You can see from the file how the airspace is generated using the OpenAir (.FAS) format. Aaron's notes on the SoCal League site give a more detailed explanation. It's well worth studying the parameters as they are not difficult to understand. There is a letter (shown in red below) then the associated data.
For example:
*
*## RIVERSIDE MARCH FIELD CLASS D ## comment to provide additional explanation
AC D this means class D airspace
SB 0,255,0 I'm not sure what this field is...
AN RIVERSIDE MARCH FIELD CLASS D the name that appears in the map
AL SFC Airspace floor - SFC meaning the surface or ground level
AH 4000 MSL Airspace ceiling in ft (MSL stands for Mean Sea Level)
V X=33:52:50 N N 117:15:34 W is the location of the center of the circle
DC 5.0 means "draw circle with 5 Nautical mile diameter around the location in the V parameter
*
8. Highlight that airspace text then copy and paste into the local file. Make sure you include the * before and after each piece of text to separate each entry
9. Repeat the process for different airspaces required.
10. To test the file, Convert OpenAir to Google Map. Select your new file and click the Submit button. This
10. To load the file, go to Loading Airspace into XCTrack on an Android Phone or Loading Airspace to Flymaster