IFR Flight Plans

IFR Flight plans can be filed over the phone, over the radio, or electronically. I almost exclusively file electronically via foreflight, with the rare exception being picking up a TEC route from a towered airport (which is done over the radio), or getting a pop-up.

Fuel Requirements

For IFR, you must have enough fuel to fly to the destination, then to all alternates, and then have 45 minutes of fuel left.

So, if I file for KSAC to KOAK, with an alternate of KSJC, it might take an hour to fly from KSAC to KOAK, then another 20 minutes to go from KOAK to KSJC. Meaning I need to have at least an hour and 20 minutes of fuel. On top of that, I need at least 45 more minutes of fuel - or 2 hours and 5 minutes of fuel.

Destination and Alternates

Under Part 91, per 91.169, IFR flight plans need to include an alternate unless the following is the case:

  • The destination airport has a standard instrument approach, as listed in part 97 AND
  • The weather, at time of expected arrival and for 1 hour before and 1 hour after, as at least the following:
    • 2000 feet ceiling
    • 3 statute mile visibility.
    • This is the 1-2-3 rule.
    • (Use a TAF to verify this)

If any of those are not the case, then you legally must file at least 1 alternate destination. You can file any number of alternates you want, but that does increase the amount of fuel you need to carry.

Alternates

In order to list an airport as an alternate, there are 2 conditions:

  1. If the alternate has a standard instrument approach, as listed in part 97:
  • Weather must meet the alternate minima in the approach (if specified)
  • If the airport has a precision approach (i.e. ILS, GLS), then the weather at the time of expected arrival must be at least 600 feet ceiling with 2 statute mile visibility.
  • If the airport only has precision approaches (or APV), then the weather at the time of expected arrival must be at least 800 feet ceiling with 2 statute mile visibility.
  1. If the alternate does not have a standard instrument approach, as listed in part 97:
  • You must be able to descend from the MEA, do the approach, and land under basic VFR minimums.

In practice, this means you likely won’t be filing airports that don’t have instrument approaches as alternates.

(Checkride tip: Make sure to list an alternate in the flight plan, be sure to explain why you picked that.)

Last updated: 2021-12-29 11:08:53 -0800