This is a recording of one of my FAASTeam safety meetings where I walk through the entire airspace system using ForeFlight — from the Class G baseline all the way up through special flight rule areas and VFR transition routes. Whether you’re a student pilot or a seasoned aviator, this is a good refresher with some ForeFlight tips you may not have seen before.

What This Seminar Covers

• Class G — The Sugar Cookie Analogy. Imagine laying out a blanket of dough over the entire country, 1,200 feet thick. That’s Class G. Then the cookie cutters come in — Class E, D, C, and B — cutting or pressing into that dough.
• Class E and the 700-foot shelf. Why does it matter if Class G is 700 feet thick or 1,200 feet thick? Because ag operators and EMS helicopters legally fly one mile clear of clouds in Class G. Just because there’s a red dot doesn’t mean no one is flying.
• Cloud clearance vs. airport VFR. Two different things. The airport can report VFR (green dot) while you still violate cloud clearance requirements if you’re not maintaining 500 below, 1,000 above, and 2,000 horizontal in Class E.
• Class D hours of operation. Most Class D airports revert to Class E at night. ForeFlight shows you the local times on the info tab — don’t assume the tower is always open.
• Class C vs. TRSA. Fort Smith has a TRSA — voluntary approach control that feels just like Class C but isn’t mandatory. Same radar system as Little Rock Approach.
• Bentonville under XNA’s Class C. Surface-level Class E nested under Class C. Pilots have been violated for taking off with a squawk code and assuming they were cleared in. Two-way communication must start in the air.
• Class B and flight following. If you’re on a discrete squawk code, on active radar vectors, and ATC gives you a heading through the Bravo — you’re cleared. But it doesn’t hurt to confirm.
• ATZ0. What happens when the controllers evacuate. It happened during COVID, it happens for fire alarms. This is a lost-comms scenario where the facility has the problem, not your airplane.

Special Use Airspace & TFRs

• MOAs. You can fly through them, but if they’re active, you’re making military pilots stop their mission. ForeFlight’s long-press gives you the controlling frequency instantly — no more hunting through sectional legends.
• Restricted areas. When active, you cannot fly through. When cold, you can. I share a personal story of nearly getting hit by an artillery shell when the Army forgot to activate the restricted area.
• TFRs. They pop up fast — especially firefighting TFRs. Make sure your NOTAM/TFR layer is turned on in ForeFlight. Without it and without flight following, you won’t know.
• ADS-B waivers. Google “FAA ADAPT” to request a waiver. Takes five seconds. You’ll get an email with approved or denied.

Letters to Airmen & Special Air Traffic Rules

• LTAs (Letters to Airmen). Found under the Procedures tab in ForeFlight. These tell you how a specific facility handles things like practice approaches. Little Rock has them; not every airport does.
• SFRAs and SATRs. Washington D.C.’s SFRA requires a discrete squawk code at all times — no 1200. The Grand Canyon SATR restricts altitudes and corridors.
• VFR transition routes and fly charts. Phoenix lets you fly directly over Sky Harbor’s departure end. The New York Skyline tour takes you down the Hudson at 1,200 feet with Manhattan out the left window. These are all in ForeFlight under the FAA fly charts.