Updated October 2026

How to read a sectional chart for Part 107

A sectional chart tells a drone pilot which airspace is over a job site, how high it starts, and what is nearby. You need it to fly legally near airports, and you need it to pass the Part 107 test. From October 26, 2026, the FAA adds test questions with images taken from current FAA charts.

In short

Blue and magenta lines mark controlled airspace. Solid blue is Class B, solid magenta is Class C, dashed blue is Class D, dashed magenta is Class E to the surface.
Inside those four, a Part 107 pilot needs FAA authorization before flying. LAANC gives it fast below the UAS Facility Map altitude.
Numbers on the chart are in hundreds of feet above sea level (MSL). Your drone's 400 ft limit is above the ground (AGL). Convert before you decide.
Temporary flight restrictions are not printed on the chart. Check NOTAMs every time.
The FAA's sectionals and the test supplement FAA-CT-8080-2H are free to download.

Why drone pilots need the sectional

Under 14 CFR 107.41, you may not fly a small drone in Class B, C or D airspace, or in the surface area of Class E airspace designated for an airport, without prior authorization from air traffic control. The sectional is where those boundaries are drawn.

Most pilots get that authorization through LAANC. It approves requests automatically for altitudes below the grid altitudes on the FAA's UAS Facility Maps, and it covers hundreds of airports. Where LAANC is not available, you apply through FAADroneZone. Those requests are processed by hand and have historically taken up to eight weeks. The facility maps tell you how high you may ask to fly. They do not authorize anything by themselves. The sectional tells you whether you need to ask at all.

The test leans on charts too. The Part 107 knowledge test (UAG) has 60 questions, and airspace and its requirements make up 15 to 25 percent of them. You need 70 percent to pass. The FAA says that from October 26, 2026, the UAG test will include image-based questions that are not in the printed testing supplement, with images taken from current FAA charts. The printed supplement stays at test centers for now. The FAA has not set a date to remove it and says it will give ample notice first.

Airspace classes on the chart

The sectional uses two inks for airspace: blue and magenta. Whether a line is solid, dashed or shaded tells you the class. The table below covers what a drone pilot sees below 400 feet. Class A starts at 18,000 feet and is not drawn on visual charts.

Airspace on a sectional, and what a Part 107 pilot must do
Airspace	How it looks on the sectional	What a Part 107 pilot must do
Class B	Solid blue lines, often in several rings like an upside-down wedding cake. Each sector has blue floor and ceiling numbers.	Get ATC authorization (LAANC or FAADroneZone) if your flight is inside a sector that reaches down to where you fly.
Class C	Solid magenta lines, usually an inner circle and an outer ring. Each sector has magenta floor and ceiling numbers.	Get ATC authorization if you fly inside it.
Class D	Dashed blue line around a towered airport. The ceiling is in a dashed blue box.	Get ATC authorization. Class D starts at the surface, so any flight inside the line is in it.
Class E to the surface	Dashed magenta line around an airport.	Get ATC authorization. 107.41 names this airspace along with B, C and D.
Class E from 700 ft AGL	A band of magenta shading (a vignette). The soft side faces the area where the floor is 700 ft.	None for the airspace. Below 700 ft AGL the airspace is Class G, and your drone stays at or below 400 ft AGL.
Class E from 1,200 ft AGL	A band of blue shading where it borders Class G. Most of the country away from airports has this floor and shows no shading at all.	None for the airspace. You fly in Class G underneath it.
Class G	Not drawn. It is what is left below the Class E floor.	No authorization needed. You still follow every other Part 107 rule and stay clear of airport traffic.

A simplified key. The real chart uses these inks with more detail; blue shading for a 1,200 ft floor looks like the magenta band in blue.

Reading ceiling and floor numbers

Class B and Class C sectors carry two numbers, one over the other. The top number is the ceiling and the bottom number is the floor. Both are in hundreds of feet above mean sea level (MSL), with the last two zeros left off.

40 over 20 means the sector runs from 2,000 ft MSL up to 4,000 ft MSL.
40 over SFC means it starts at the surface. If you fly there, you are in it.
T as a Class C ceiling means it runs up to, but not including, the floor of the Class B above it.
A number in a dashed box, such as [25], is a Class D ceiling: 2,500 ft MSL. Class D starts at the surface.
A minus sign in the box, such as [-25], means from the surface up to, but not including, 2,500 ft MSL. You usually see this where Class D sits under another class.

Your drone's limit works the other way. Under 107.51(b) you fly at or below 400 ft above ground level (AGL), or higher only within 400 ft of a structure and no more than 400 ft above its top. To compare the two, subtract the ground elevation from the chart number. If the ground is at 600 ft MSL and a Class B shelf has a floor of 30 (3,000 ft MSL), the shelf starts 2,400 ft above you. A drone at 400 ft AGL is well below it and not in Class B there. Check what lies underneath the shelf instead.

One magenta circle is not an airspace class. Around Class B airports a thin solid magenta circle labeled "Mode C 30 NM" marks where manned aircraft need a transponder. Read the airspace inside it the normal way.

Special use airspace and restrictions

Special use airspace is drawn with a hatched border and labeled with a letter and number. The ink tells you the type.

Prohibited (P) and restricted (R) areas have a blue hatched border. Under 107.45 you may not fly in them without permission from the using or controlling agency. A new prohibited area, P-75, takes effect October 29, 2026 around Trump Tower in New York City: about 1 NM around it, from the surface to 1,000 ft AGL.
Warning (W) areas also have a blue hatched border. Alert (A) areas and military operations areas (MOAs) have a magenta hatched border. Part 107 does not name these, but they warn of military flying or other hazards. Low, fast military traffic and a small drone do not mix.
The Washington, DC Special Flight Rules Area is charted. It covers a 30-mile radius around the DCA VOR/DME, from the surface up to but not including FL 180 (about 18,000 ft). Drone flights in its inner Flight Restricted Zone are banned without a TSA/FAA waiver.

Many restrictions are not on the chart at all. Check these before every flight:

Temporary flight restrictions (TFRs). They come and go faster than a chart is printed. The FAA says drone pilots must check NOTAMs before every flight. Active TFRs are listed at tfr.faa.gov. Wildfires often get one, and drones are banned inside unless a firefighting agency is flying them.
Stadiums. A standing NOTAM bans drones within 3 NM of a qualifying stadium, up to 3,000 ft AGL, from one hour before to one hour after a qualifying game or race. It covers venues seating 30,000 or more during MLB, NFL, NCAA Division One football and some major auto races. The FAA's SEAMS site lists the active times.
National security sites. An FAA NOTAM bans drones over select sites, such as some military bases, landmarks and nuclear plants. The locations and altitudes are on the FAA's UDDS website, not the sectional.

A LAANC approval does not clear you through any of these. It is an airspace authorization only. B4UFLY apps and the FAA's UDDS maps show many of these areas in one place.

Airport symbols and the data block

Airports with a control tower, and their data, are printed in blue. All other airports are printed in magenta. A blue airport usually sits inside Class B, C or D airspace. A magenta airport may sit in Class G, or inside a dashed magenta Class E surface area.

Next to each airport is a block of text. Read it top to bottom. A sample line looks like CT - 118.3 ★ (C) then 285 L 72 122.95.

Parts of the airport data block
Item	What it means
Name and identifier	The official airport name, then its location identifier, such as (NAM). This is what you type into a LAANC app.
CT - 118.3	The control tower's primary frequency.
★ (star)	The tower or service is part-time. The Chart Supplement lists the hours. A note such as "See NOTAMs/Supplement for Class D eff hrs" means the airspace class also changes with those hours.
C in a circle	Follows the common traffic advisory frequency (CTAF), where pilots announce their position.
285	Airport elevation in feet MSL. Use it to turn chart altitudes into heights above the field.
L or *L	Runway lights from sunset to sunrise. *L means there are limits; see the Chart Supplement. A dash means no runway edge lights.
72	Length of the longest runway in hundreds of feet: 7,200 ft.
122.95	UNICOM, the airport's advisory frequency.

Near a non-towered airport in uncontrolled airspace, you need no authorization to fly below 400 ft AGL. You must still watch for and avoid the traffic pattern and the takeoff and landing areas, and 107.43 bars any flight that interferes with airport operations. Find the runway direction on the chart, stay clear of the approach and departure paths, and listen on the CTAF if you have a receiver so you know when aircraft are in the pattern.

Altitudes, obstacles and terrain

Everything on the sectional is measured from sea level. Your drone is measured from the ground. Keep both in mind.

Obstacles. Towers and other tall structures have a symbol with two numbers. The top number is the height of the top above MSL. The number in parentheses below it is the height above the ground. A tower marked 1,149 over (349) stands 349 ft tall on ground about 800 ft MSL. In crowded areas the FAA may leave out the AGL figure.
Small obstacles are missing. Sectionals typically show man-made obstacles taller than 200 ft AGL. A 150 ft tower, a crane or a power line can be right in your path and not on the chart. Walk the site.
Maximum elevation figures (MEF). Each quadrangle, bounded by tick lines every 30 minutes of latitude and longitude, has a large number with a smaller digit beside it, such as 2 and 8 for 2,800 ft MSL. It is the highest terrain or obstacle in that box, rounded up. It helps manned pilots; for you it is a quick check of how high the ground and towers get.
Terrain. Contour lines join points of equal elevation, and color tints run from light green for low ground to dark brown for high ground.

Worked example: a house 4 miles from a Class D airport

A client wants photos of a house about 4 miles from a small towered airport. You want to fly at up to 300 ft AGL. Here is how you read the chart. The airport and numbers are made up for practice.

Find the house and the airport. The airport is printed in blue, so it has a tower. Its data block reads CT - 118.3 ★ and its elevation is 650. The star means the tower is part-time.
Find the line. A dashed blue circle surrounds the airport. Use the chart's mileage scale to place the house. Here the house sits just inside the dashed line, so it is in Class D airspace from the ground up.
Read the ceiling. The dashed box shows [30]: Class D goes up to 3,000 ft MSL. The ground at the house is about 700 ft MSL, so Class D reaches about 2,300 ft above it. Your whole flight is inside it.
Get authorization. Because the flight is in Class D, 107.41 requires ATC authorization. Open the UAS Facility Map for that spot. Say the grid shows 200. LAANC can approve you up to 200 ft right away. For 300 ft you either plan the shot at 200 ft or file a LAANC further coordination request at least 72 hours ahead. A person reviews those.
Check the hours. The star sends you to the Chart Supplement for tower hours. The note by the dashed box tells you the Class D hours are there too.
Check obstacles. A tower symbol 1 mile east reads 1,149 over (349). It rises to 349 ft above its base, higher than your planned flight. Keep well clear of it and its guy wires. Then walk the site for anything under 200 ft that the chart does not show.
Check what is not printed. Look up NOTAMs and TFRs for the date. LAANC does not do this for you.

Now move the house 2 miles farther out, outside the dashed blue line but inside magenta shading. The airspace from the ground to 700 ft AGL is Class G. You need no authorization at 300 ft. You still avoid the airport's traffic pattern and check NOTAMs before you fly.

Where to get charts for free

Digital sectionals. The FAA's Aeronautical Information Services publishes every sectional as a free download on its Digital VFR Charts page, updated on a 56-day cycle. Download the one that covers your area and zoom in on airports you know.
The chart legend. The FAA's Aeronautical Chart Users' Guide explains every symbol. When a symbol confuses you, look it up there rather than guessing.
The testing supplement. FAA-CT-8080-2H, the Airman Knowledge Testing Supplement for Sport Pilot, Recreational Pilot, Remote Pilot and Private Pilot, holds the chart excerpts used on the test. It is free on the FAA's testing supplements page. Practice with it, but also practice on current charts, since the new image-based questions come from them.

Study next

Reading a chart takes practice more than memory. Our free drone license course covers airspace and the rest of the Part 107 test in five short videos. Then test yourself with the Part 107 practice test and use the Part 107 study guide to plan what is left.

Start the free course Practice test Study guide

Already certified? See drone pilot jobs on Astral Pic.

Sources

Rules come from 14 CFR Part 107 and FAA pages read in October 2026. Chart symbols come from the FAA Aeronautical Chart Users' Guide dated July 9, 2026. This guide is for study. Always use a current chart and current NOTAMs before a flight.

FAA, Aeronautical Chart Users' Guide (July 9, 2026), VFR terms and symbols.
FAA, Digital VFR charts (sectional downloads).
FAA, Airman knowledge testing supplements: FAA-CT-8080-2H.
FAA, Airman Testing Community Advisory, September 2026 Special Edition: image-based questions from October 26, 2026.
FAA, Airman Knowledge Testing Matrix (revised September 25, 2026) and Remote Pilot ACS, FAA-S-ACS-10B.
14 CFR 107.41, 107.43, 107.45 and 107.51 via eCFR.
FAA, UAS Data Exchange (LAANC) (updated September 29, 2026), Part 107 airspace authorizations (updated October 1, 2026), UAS Facility Maps and Flying near airports.
FAA, Temporary flight restrictions, Stadiums and sporting events, Critical infrastructure and public venues and B4UFLY.
FAA NOTAMs FDC 0/0367 (sporting events), FDC 6/3366 (national security sites) and FDC 5/7224 (Washington, DC).
14 CFR 93.335 (DC SFRA); Federal Register, Establishment of Prohibited Area P-75 (July 31, 2026).
FAA, Drones and wildfires toolkit.