Flight Levels

1

I know that when flying east, you travel at an odd altitude, and west, you fly at an even altitude. However, what if you are flying directly south or north, or your flight back zigzags back and forth between northeast or northwest, or southeast and southwest? What is the altitude supposed to be? Even or odd?

2

The East altitudes goes from 360Âş to 179Âş and the West altitudes from 180Âş to 359Âş, so if you go in track 180Âş you should be at an odd altitude, and when going directly north you should be at an even FL.

image

5 Likes
3

And, if you’re going back and forth, look if your destination is to the east or west of your origin. If it’s east, go with an odd attitude and if it’s west, go with even

1 Like
4

Thanks @IF-Mallorca and @Rob_M for the help!

1 Like
5

What if you want to fly higher than 410 ;)

6

430/450/470/490… Shall I keep going?

1 Like
7

Maybe to 510 since the citation X can cruise that high :)

@PolandBall_120 can can fly opposite flight levels with the permission of atc for weather, fuel, headwinds just to name a few.

8

Fun fact: Class A airspace (in the US) extends to FL600. Above that, it becomes Class E airspace (possibly all the way to Karman Line: the boundary of space. The regulations just say “FL600 and above” lol.). ATC services are available, but the pilot doesn’t need to talk to ATC if they don’t want to.

1 Like
9

True, in fact Virgin Galactic is currently grounded/being investigated for entering class A airspace without an IFR clearance during their descent back from space on the Branson flight…among other safety violations.

2 Likes
10

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.