Cruising Levels For Flight

This might not be in your Pre Solo Exam, but will be in later exams and is very important to know. So learn it now.

When outside controlled airspace the obligation to avoid collisions rests completely on the pilot. To help make the skies safer we cruise between locations at predetermined heights whenever possible. On some occasions due to cloud or other circumstances this is not always possible and during these times the pilot needs to be hyper vigilant in looking for other aircraft.

The radio helps us to be partially aware of some other aircraft in our area, but sometimes long distances are covered with few radio calls.

To maximise safety we have cruising levels assigned to various aircraft on certain magnetic tracks.

VFR aircraft on easterly tracks from 000° to 179° Magnetic fly at 1500, 3500, 5500, 7500, 9500

VFR aircraft on westerly tracks from 180° to 359° Magnetic fly at 2500, 4500, 6500, 8500

Note IFR aircraft fly between these levels so stay at your recommended height

When cruising between locations we use the area QNH for our altimeter, not the local QNH. The area QNH is available via NAIPS or from the AREA air traffic controllers via the area radio frequency. Above 10,000feet they use 1013 hpa on their altimeter.

The cruising levels are indicated below in the diagram. Note under RA-Aus we are VFR, meaning we fly via visual flight rules. IFR are aircraft that are flying on calibrated instruments under instrument rules.

This is easy to remember if you note that it VFR use the 500’s and IFR use the 1000’s

Also note the lowest altitudes are east and it simply alternates as you go up.

Also note for us VFR pilots, we head east on the odd eg: 1500 and west on the even eg: 2500.

crusing-levels