Sectional chart reference

Towered airport

Blue airport symbol.

Towered airport as printed on a VFR sectional chart: Blue airport symbol. The illustration shows the airport symbol: a ring with the runway drawn across it.
Drawn to the depiction described in the FAA Aeronautical Chart Users’ Guide, effective 9 July 2026. Illustrative, not to scale, and not for navigation.

What you are looking at

Blue = has an operating control tower. Surrounding airspace is usually controlled (often Class D/C/B).

Part 107 at 400 ft Depends on the airspace over the airport
Source: depiction per the FAA Aeronautical Chart Users’ Guide, effective 9 July 2026 (PDF).

What that verdict means here

The airport symbol tells you about the airport, not about the airspace above it. Whether you need an authorization is decided by the class of airspace over that field, which may be B, C, D, E to the surface, or G. Read the airspace, not the airport.

⚠️ § 107.41, the ATC-authorization rule quoted on the Class B, C, D and E-surface pages, is not the rule that governs this symbol, which is why it is not quoted here.

Find one near you

Reading about a symbol is not the same as finding it. Open the live chart, put in your own address, and see what is actually there.

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Not for navigation. Study material, not authority. This page explains a chart symbol for study. It is not an authorization source and not a substitute for an official pre-flight check. Confirm on the FAA’s own chart viewer and through LAANC before you fly.

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