It’s known by many names, but the entire purpose of using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is to have a single standard. Because aircraft can traverse multiple time zones on a single flight, and it’s important that all pilots are on the same time, we use UTC as the standard time. Also known as Greenwich Mean Time, or GMT, UTC is the time as measured at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. In the United States we add hours to convert local time to UTC and subtract hours to convert UTC to local.

In the Eastern Standard time zone, add five hours, in the central time zone add six, and so on. First convert to the 24-hour clock. So if it’s 2 p.m. local in Washington, D.C., convert to 1400. Then add five hours to get a UTC of 1900. During periods of daylight savings, add only four hours for the Eastern Time zone.

UTC is also referred to as Zulu time. That’s because the time zone in Greenwich has historically been denoted as a Z on nautical charts, and since Z in the phonetic alphabet is Zulu, we refer to UTC as Zulu.

ASF News

ASF has you covered with Airspace Flash Cards

Some things in flight training can be bewildering at first, and one of them is learning and describing the airspace categories in which we fly. Studying the various aeronautical charts, and taking in the airspace dimensions and regulations, can be a daunting task, especially with looming pressure of an upcoming checkride or flight review.

That’s why the AOPA Air Safety Foundation has developed airspace flash cards to make it practical, easy, and even enjoyable for pilots at any certificate level to absorb critical knowledge and keep the different categories straight. Each card includes a color depiction of the airspace, a description of its characteristics, and a discussion question.

Download the cards to print, and put them in your flight bag for a quick refresher before your next flight review or checkride (www.asf.org/airspacecards.pdf). Visit the website for updates when airspace changes occur.