IFR vs VFR - What's The Difference?

These two abbreviations is how the FAA differentiates the two type of flight plan a pilot may choose to use.

VFR – Visual Flight Rules. Under a VFR flight plan, the pilot is solely responsible for watching for other aircraft and obstacles. The aircraft is prohibited for entering a cloud. The pilot chooses his destination and altitude. To avoid collision with other aircraft, the FAA requires that VFR flights are maintained at known altitudes. Flying west – the pilot must fly at 4,500, 6,500, 8,500, 10,500, or 12,500 feet. Flying east – the pilot must fly at 5,500, 7,500, 9,500, 11,500, or 13,500 feet. I always like to augment my VFR flight with “Flight Following” where I contact Air Traffic Control (ATC) and they follow me on radar. ATC can alert me to traffic or adverse weather conditions.

IFR – Instrument Flight Rules. Under an IFR flight plan, the pilot must fly a pre-defined flight path at a pre-specified altitude. ATC is the boss and tells you what to do and where to go. The pilot must follow ATC instructions. Under IFR, the pilot is able to fly through or fly in clouds. To do this, the pilot must rely solely on the instruments to fly and navigate. To avoid collision with other aircraft, the FAA requires that IFR flights are maintained at known altitudes. Flying west – the pilot must fly at 4,000, 6,000, 8,000, 10,000, or 12,000 feet. Flying east – the pilot must fly at 5,000, 7,000, 9,000, 11,000, or 13,000 feet. The weather doesn’t have to be bad to fly IFR. All IFR flights must be landed using a pre-defined Approach Plan that is unique to each airport. All commercial flights fly IFR.

If I am flying an IFR plan, you can follow me real time using the Flight Aware app or go to this link https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N627RGRead more