5.3 Special Use Airspace

AIM 3-4-1 defines special use airspace (SUA) as airspace where activities must be confined because of their nature, or where limitations are imposed on aircraft that are not part of those activities, or both. ACS PA.I.E.K3 expects you to name each type, say whether it is charted, and say who you call. The memory aid “the SUA you can fly through is not the SUA that can kill you without warning” is only half true — an active restricted area can kill you, and an active MOA can put a formation of fighters in your windscreen at 400 knots. Treat the chart and the status call as part of preflight, not as decoration.

AIM splits SUA into two legal families. Regulatory SUA — prohibited and restricted — is established in 14 CFR part 73 through rulemaking. Nonregulatory SUA is warning areas, military operations areas, alert areas, controlled firing areas, and national security areas. Permanent SUA except CFAs is on Sectional, Terminal Area, and applicable En Route charts with hours, altitudes, and the controlling agency. Temporary restricted areas and temporary MOAs are not charted; you find them in Domestic Notices, the FAA SUA site, NOTAMs, and by asking the overlying ATC facility.

Prohibited areas — flight is prohibited

AIM 3-4-2: a prohibited area is airspace of defined dimensions in which the flight of aircraft is prohibited, established for security or other national-welfare reasons. They are published in the Federal Register and drawn on charts as blue-hatched areas labeled P- plus a number (P-56 over Washington, D.C., is the example every ground school uses). 91.133(a) says no person may operate an aircraft within a prohibited area unless that person has the permission of the using or controlling agency. For PAR purposes, “I did not see the blue hash marks” is not a defense. Stay out unless you actually have that permission — which a typical training flight will not.

Restricted areas — permission if active

AIM 3-4-3: flight in a restricted area is not wholly prohibited, but it is subject to restrictions. The invisible hazards are artillery, aerial gunnery, guided missiles, and similar activity. Penetration without authorization from the using or controlling agency “may be extremely hazardous to the aircraft and its occupants.” Charted as blue-hatched R- areas. The margin tab lists altitudes, times, and the controlling agency (often an ARTCC or approach control) and sometimes a using-agency note.

91.133(a) is the operating rule: do not operate in a restricted area contrary to the restrictions imposed unless you have permission of the using or controlling agency, as appropriate. Joint-use restricted airspace that is cold and released to the FAA controlling agency may be used by ATC without a special clearance to you; IFR traffic is simply cleared through. If the area is hot, ATC will keep IFR traffic out unless you have your own permission and tell the controller. VFR pilots do not get to “take a look” because the sectional shows an R-number. Call the controlling agency or FSS, read the times on the chart, and if it is active, go around or get permission.

Warning areas — offshore hazard advisory

AIM 3-4-4: a warning area extends from three nautical miles outward from the U.S. coast and contains activity that may be hazardous to nonparticipating aircraft. It may lie over domestic waters, international waters, or both. The purpose is to warn, not to create a part 73 keep-out. Charted as W- areas. You may legally transit, but treating an active warning area like empty ocean is how air-to-air ranges and fleet-exercise areas become accident reports. Get status from FSS or the controlling agency printed on the chart.

Military Operations Areas — VFR may transit

AIM 3-4-5: a MOA separates certain military training from IFR traffic. Activities include air combat, intercepts, aerobatics, formation, and low-altitude tactics. Military aircraft in an active MOA may exceed 250 KIAS below 10,000 MSL and are exempt from the 91.303 aerobatic-location limits that would otherwise keep aerobatics out of Class D/E surface areas and federal airways.

IFR nonparticipants are either cleared through with IFR separation or rerouted. VFR nonparticipants may enter. That is the tested fact. The next sentence is the safety fact: exercise extreme caution when the MOA is active. Status can change during your flight. AIM tells you to contact any FSS within 100 miles for real-time hours and, before entering an active MOA, to contact the controlling agency for traffic advisories. Permanent MOAs are magenta-hatched on the sectional; temporary MOAs are not charted.

Alert areas and controlled firing areas

AIM 3-4-6: an alert area (magenta-hatched A-) warns of a high volume of pilot training or an unusual type of aerial activity. All activity is conducted under the CFRs without waiver. Participants and transiting pilots share equal collision-avoidance responsibility. You may fly through. You should be looking harder.

AIM 3-4-7: a controlled firing area (CFA) contains activity that would be hazardous if not controlled. The defining feature is that the activity is suspended immediately when spotter aircraft, radar, or ground lookouts see you coming. CFAs are not charted because they do not require a nonparticipant to change flight path. If a question asks which SUA does not appear on the sectional, CFA is the answer — not “temporary MOA only,” although temporary MOAs are also uncharted.

National security areas

AIM 3-4-8: an NSA has defined vertical and lateral limits where extra security of a ground facility is needed. Pilots are requested to voluntarily avoid the depicted NSA. When more security is required, flight may be temporarily prohibited under 14 CFR 99.7 by System Operations Security and disseminated by NOTAM. An NSA on the chart is not, by itself, a keep-out the way P-56 is. A 99.7 NOTAM on top of that NSA is a keep-out. Check NOTAMs.

PAR scenario: your sectional shows R-4001 and a magenta MOA along the same cross-country. The chart tab says the restricted area is active 0700–2300 weekdays and lists “Washington Center” as controlling agency. It is Tuesday at 1400. You do not cut the corner through R-4001. You can plan through the MOA, but you call Flight Service for current status and, if it is hot, you call the controlling agency printed in the margin before you enter. “MOAs are always closed to VFR” is a miss. “Restricted areas are always closed even when cold” is also a miss. Status, then permission or reroute.