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4 Answers

Special Use Airspace

Asked by: 1986 views General Aviation

On SUA, why are some depicted with blue and some with magenta areas? I was asked on a checkride and answered that it was because blue was regulatory and magenta was non-regulatory airspace. Wrong. Tried googling it and havent found anything. And there is nothing in the PHAK that specifies.

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4 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Feb 02, 2019

    The question as stated seems to be a trivial pursuit question. AFAIK, it is not a required knowledge item on any PTS or ACS. I presume your answer did not disqualify you for a practical test. Did the examiner provide you with the “correct” answer?

    The sectional legend shows that Prohibited, Restricted and Warning areas are colored in blue and that Alert areas and MOA are depicted using magenta. That answers a different question than the one you posed, that is, “What colors are used for the various SUA types?”. It does not answer the question “Why?”.

    Another trivia type question, when is a hard surface runway depiction depicted without the airport circle? You can go thru an entire aviation career and never need to know the answer.

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  2. Mark Kolber on Feb 03, 2019

    At least the runways with no circle question has an easy answer shown on the chart legend and is usually discussed in Chart Reading 101. DPEs will typically toss in a few of the more esoteric ones, but, as you say, it is more about what they are rather than “why are towers blue and stadiums magenta?”

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  3. Warren Webb Jr on Feb 03, 2019

    Couldn’t find an official explanation either. But I think it follows a general theme – blue airports and SUA need authorization while magenta ones do not. This would even include National Park Service/Wildlife areas – they are blue and require authorization for landing.

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  4. PocketCFI on Feb 20, 2019

    When a SUA is blue you cannot enter it VFR without talking to someone while this airspace is active. When it is magenta you can, but it is at your own discretion. The purpose is for airplanes without radio communication.

    For example if a restricted area (blue) is active you are not allowed to enter it, but if the MOA is active you can enter that all day long. If you are IFR (which requires radio coms) than ATC is able to vector you around traffic and it is no longer relevant, because ATC will tell you if you can or cannot go.

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