Class E that does not start at the surface is controlled airspace with a floor above the ground. A faded magenta edge generally means that floor is 700 feet AGL. A faded blue edge generally means 1,200 feet AGL. Below the floor, the airspace is often Class G, and that Class G does not need a §107.41 authorization. You still fly by height above the ground and you still observe the 400-foot AGL limit. A victor airway is a separate blue line labeled with a V and a number, not a VR route.
The floors the vignette is telling you
The Chart Users' Guide says Class E exists at 1,200 feet AGL unless it is designated otherwise. Floors of 700 feet above the ground are defined by a magenta vignette, the faded or shaded magenta edge. Floors other than 700 feet that laterally abut Class G are defined by a blue vignette. The question that asks what a faded magenta edge indicates keys 700 feet AGL. Eighteen thousand feet MSL is Class A, not this floor. 1,200 feet AGL is the other common floor, the one associated with the faded blue edge, and it is the wrong choice when the vignette is magenta.
Below that floor you are not in the Class E. Along a 700-foot magenta vignette, the surface layer up to 700 feet AGL is often Class G. Along a 1,200-foot blue vignette, the surface layer up to 1,200 feet AGL is often Class G. Class G needs no ATC authorization for the airspace itself. Section 107.41's Class E trigger is the surface area designated for an airport, drawn with dashed magenta, which is the subject of the Class E surface page. A faded edge is not that surface area. The Class G page is the rule set for the airspace under the floor, including the 400-foot limit that still applies there.
These floors are also not a description of Class G as a fixed nationwide ceiling. They are the floor of the Class E that has been designated. Where the chart designates something else, read that designation.
Victor airways are blue and labeled V
A victor airway on a sectional is a blue line labeled "V" followed by a number. The question keys that depiction. A magenta hatched area is not a victor airway. A green dashed line is not a victor airway.
The label is V, not VR. VR marks a VFR military training route, a different line and a different purpose. If the identifier starts with VR, you are not looking at a victor airway, even when the line is nearby and the numbers are long. The course chart work that uses VR routes is a military training route question. This item is the blue V line.
A victor airway does not, by its label alone, create a §107.41 surface area. It is a route structure for manned traffic, typically based well above a Part 107 cruise altitude. You still do not interfere with aircraft using it, and you still yield under §107.37. The symbol is the piece the question scores.
Chart altitudes are MSL. You fly AGL.
The third item is the unit trap that sits on top of every Class E floor. The pilot sees terrain and airspace labeled in MSL and flies by AGL. The keyed action is to track height above the ground and observe the 400-foot AGL limit. Converting everything to knots mixes a speed unit into an altitude problem. Ignoring altitude is not a plan.
A faded magenta floor at 700 feet AGL can sit over terrain that is already thousands of feet MSL. The MSL number and the AGL number are different. Your legal ceiling, absent a structure and absent a waiver, is 400 feet above the ground under the aircraft. That altitude is below a 700-foot Class E floor, which is why the flight is in Class G and why §107.41 does not trigger. If you climb to "700" because the vignette says 700, you have used the Class E floor as a cruise altitude. Four hundred feet AGL is the Part 107 limit. The vignette is only telling you where Class E begins.
Line style is the rest of the distinction, and the magenta and blue page keeps the fade, the dash, and the solid line in one list. Fade means a floor above the surface. Dash, in magenta, means the surface.
A survey under a magenta vignette, next to a blue V line
You are mapping a ranch. The sectional shows a faded magenta edge, so you brief Class E at 700 feet AGL and Class G underneath. A blue line labeled V12 crosses the corner of the ranch. You identify it as a victor airway, not as a Class E surface and not as a VR route. The flight is planned at 300 feet AGL. You check 300 feet against the ground, not against sea level, and you stay at or below 400 feet AGL. You do not file a §107.41 authorization for the Class G under the vignette. You do watch for manned traffic along V12, because the airway tells you where that traffic is organized, even though your altitude is far below the airway.
If the vignette on the next panel is faded blue, you brief the general 1,200-foot AGL floor instead of 700. The authorization answer does not change: below the floor, in Class G, §107.41 does not apply. The 400-foot rule does.
The trap
The vignette trap assigns 1,200 feet or 18,000 feet to a faded magenta edge. Faded magenta is 700 feet AGL. Faded blue is the 1,200-foot case. Class A is 18,000 feet MSL.
The airway trap calls a victor airway a magenta hatched area or a green dashed line, or reads VR as if the R were optional. Victor is a blue line labeled V and a number.
The unit trap treats chart MSL labels as the altitude you fly. Track AGL and keep the 400-foot limit. The Class E floor above you is not a target altitude, and it is not a §107.41 surface area.
Practice the vignette items on the free practice test. The airspace lessons in the course separate the faded floor from the dashed surface so the authorization rule stays on the surface area only.