What is the floor of the NY Bravo?
Returning from a weekend trip from the northeast, you ask Caldwell to transition their airspace. Caldwell clears you for the transition, altitude your discretion, and instructs you to remain east of runway 4. If you remain 3 miles southeast of the runway, what altitude is the floor of the NY Bravo?
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C. 1800' MSL
Reading a Class B shelf
On a sectional, each shelf of Class B airspace is labeled with two numbers in hundreds of feet MSL: the top over the floor. "70/18" means the Class B runs from 1,800 feet up to 7,000 feet in that sector.
Where you are
Three miles southeast of Caldwell's runway puts you in the 70/18 sector, so the floor of the New York Class B there is 1,800 feet MSL. Below that you're outside the Bravo.
The neighboring shelves
The shelves change quickly around Caldwell. Further east, toward West Orange and Newark, the 70/+05 shelf starts at 500 feet. Up by Paterson to the north, the 70/30 shelf starts at 3,000 feet. Pick the wrong sector and you pick the wrong floor.
The number that stands alone
The large 15 on the chart near Caldwell is the maximum elevation figure (MEF) for that quadrangle, 1,500 feet. It isn't a shelf. Shelves always come as a pair of numbers, a top and a bottom.
References
- Aeronautical Information Manual, Chapter 3, Section 2: Controlled AirspaceSee 3-2-3, Class B Airspace.
- FAA Aeronautical Chart User's GuideSee the sectional chart legend for Class B airspace and maximum elevation figures.
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