Cruising Altitudes & Airspaces: Explained

[AviationChampion]

IFATC Education Group blog post by AviationChampion

Starting a flight and want to be more realistic with your cruising altitude?

Read the full blog post here →

[Z-Tube]

Nice article, but you have a minor mistake.

if your heading is 360 – 179 degrees, you should be flying at an odd altitude. Some examples include FL330, FL350, FL370 etc. If your heading is 180 – 359 degrees, you should be flying at an even altitude such as FL320, FL340, FL360 etc

You need to reverse “359” and “180” as it should be written “359 – 180 degrees”. This is because “180 – 359 degrees” is a one-degree offset from “179 – 359 degrees”. The way you have it written implies that you are flying at an even and odd altitude simultaneously, which we all know is impossible.

The same error is present in the VFR section.

[AviationChampion]

I wrote it as specified in the flying guide. That’s not my fault.

[Z-Tube]

Oh, wow. My apologies.

[ToasterStroodie]

There is nothing wrong with what they wrote, or what the flying guide says. 180 to 359 makes sense.

[AviationChampion]

Thank you Stroodie.

[Z-Tube]

This week is not it for me. I don’t know why I read it as “179 – 360” and “180 – 359”. If it were written that way, then there’d be an issue.

My sincere apologies, Qeavyn and Danny. Off to bed, I go. 😅

[AviationChampion]

Have a good night!

[Guitar]

Thank you so much! I was looking for an article just like this. I choose my cruise altitude randomly right now 😂.

[AviationChampion]

That’s what the post is for, glad I could help!