Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

Do you have to follow IFR even and odd altitudes under 3000′ agl?

Asked by: 1625 views Airspace, FAA Regulations, Instrument Rating

Are pilots required to follow the even and odd altitudes for IFR flight under 3000' agl or are you able to choose any altitude under 3000' agl like you would under VFR?

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

3 Answers



  1. Mark Kolber on Jan 12, 2022

    The IFR hemispheric rule only applies to pilots flying IFR in uncontrolled airspace. The regulation says so. That’s next to nowhere in the lower 48 above 1200 AGL. In Class E or higher, you fly whatever altitude ATC tells you to.

    +2 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Bryan on Jan 12, 2022

    Mark is on point. Don’t get confused with AGL because it’s irrelevant to your question. There are (a lot of) places where controlled airspace goes all the way to the ground (B, C, D, and E).

    The only exceptions are (1) holding pattern less than 2 minutes, (2) turning, or (3) VFR on top –which puts your altitude under 91.159…which does bring in the 3,000 AGL and odd for east, even for west +500 altitudes. But even that technically falls under “altitude assigned by ATC.” So, what Mark said. =)

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. John D Collins on Jan 13, 2022

    There are no “wrong way” altitudes for IFR in controlled airspace. ATC normally uses the convention of odd for east and even for west, but are free to assign any altitude. 2300 feet is the MVA near my home airport and it is not uncommon to have it assigned for short flights. I have no issue filing 4000 when going to the east coast, which I might do if it keeps me out of icing rather than 5000. In Florida and other areas, the directions of many of the airways run north south, so ATC assigns altitudes that routinely don’t follow the hemispheric rule. For IFR, you can request any altitude, file any altitude, be assigned any altitude, even though the hemispheric rule is the most common altitude assignment.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.