Airspace

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Airspace

Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a particular country on top of its territory and territorial waters

Territorial waters

Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles from the baseline of a coastal state....
or, more generally, any specific three-dimensional portion of the atmosphere.

Airspace is divided into two basic types:

Airspace may be further subdivided into a variety of areas and zones, including zones where there are either restrictions on flying activities or complete prohibition of flying activities.

By international law, the notion of a country's sovereign airspace corresponds with the maritime definition of territorial waters

Territorial waters

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Airspace means the portion of the atmosphere controlled by a particular country on top of its territory and territorial waters

Territorial waters

Controlled airspace
Controlled airspace

Controlled airspace is an aviation term used to describe airspace in which traffic levels are such that it has been determined that air traffic control must provide some form of separation between aircraft....
exists where it is deemed necessary that air traffic control
Air traffic control

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based Air traffic controller who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other support for pilots when able....
has some form of positive executive control over aircraft flying in that airspace.

Uncontrolled airspace
Uncontrolled airspace

Uncontrolled airspace is an aviation term to describe airspace where an Air Traffic Control service is not deemed necessary or cannot be provided for practical reasons....
is airspace in which air traffic control
Air traffic control

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based Air traffic controller who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other support for pilots when able....
does not exert any executive authority, although it may act in an advisory manner.

Airspace may be further subdivided into a variety of areas and zones, including zones where there are either restrictions on flying activities or complete prohibition of flying activities.

By international law, the notion of a country's sovereign airspace corresponds with the maritime definition of territorial waters

Territorial waters

Territorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles from the baseline of a coastal state....
as being 12 nautical miles (22.2 km) out from a nation's coastline. Airspace not within any country's territorial limit is considered international, analogous to the "high seas

International waters

The terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of Body of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands....
" in maritime law. However, a country may, by international agreement, assume responsibility for controlling parts of international airspace, such as those over the oceans. For instance, the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
provides air traffic control services over a large part of the Pacific Ocean, even though the airspace is international.

There is no international agreement on the vertical extent of sovereign airspace (the boundary between outer space

Outer space

Outer space comprises the relatively empty regions of the universe outside the atmospheres of celestial bodies. Outer space is used to distinguish it from airspace and terrestrial locations....
— which is not subject to national jurisdiction— and national airspace), with suggestions ranging from about 30 km (the extent of the highest aircraft and balloons) to about 160 km (the lowest extent of short-term stable orbits). The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

Fédération Aéronautique Internationale

The F?d?ration A?ronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. This includes man-carrying vehicles from Balloon to spacecraft, and unmanned vehicles ....
has established the Kármán line

Karman line

The K?rm?n line lies at an altitude of 100 km above the Earth's sea level, and is commonly used to define the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and outer space....
, at an altitude of 100 km (62.1 miles), as the boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and the outer space, while the United States considers anyone who has flown above 50 miles (80 km) to be an astronaut

Astronaut

An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a List of human spaceflight programs to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
; indeed descending space shuttle

Space Shuttle

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
s have flown closer than 80 km over other nations, such as Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
, without requesting permission first. Nonetheless both the Kármán line and the US definition are merely working benchmarks, without any real legal authority over matters of national sovereignty.

Airspace

See also