Ifr Certified
 

WHEN THE TERM "IFR CERTIFIED 00/00" IS USED IN DESCRIBING A AIRPLANE, WHAT EXACTLY IS CERTIFIED? THE INSTRUMENTS OR THE AIRPLANE OR WHAT?

I would assume they are referrring to the pitot/static check (every 2 years, as I recall, amazing how quickly you forget when you don't own) and the transponder check, also every two years. You cannot fly IFR without both of these being current. (Well, could remove the transponder and only where mode C is not required I suppose...)

Kevin

I agree with Kevin that it's probably that, and the tests are different for VFR-only or IFR, with the latter being more costly. I'm also going to go out on a limb and assume that an IFR-certified aircraft, in addition to the bi-annual tests, must also have a minimum of IFR equipment, like VOR and glideslope.

Ernie

Neither of those items (VOR or glideslope) is required to fly IFR.

Kevin

I'm not IFR, so I was guessing that some "minimum of IFR equipment" would be needed (VOR and glideslopes were merely examples). An airplane is IFR certified without any navigation equipment (ADF, IFR-certified GPS)?

Ernie

"IFR certified" is a aircraft saleperson term, as far as I know. There are equipment requirements for IFR, but they are very basic. As I recall, you must have:

-an altimeter, T&B, clock, artificial horizon, DG, and an electrical system. You must also have comm radios appropriate to the flight to be made.

Beyond that, technically, you can fly IFR with no nav radios at all, although you would have to work to find a situation where that would be legal, and I can't imagine it ever being wise. An example would be climbing up through an overcast on radar vectors I suppose.

The requirement that makes additional equipment necessary is that you must have all the nav equipment necessary to execute the procedure you plan to execute. So for an ADF approach, you have to have an ADF, for a VOR approach you have to have a VOR, etc. Same thing for IFR departure procedures. And then once enroute, you have to have some way to navigate, usually VOR or GPS (although other things are possible, e.g. INS).

There is, I think, some regulation related to GPS that requires you to have alternate nav equipment if you are using GPS for primary nav.

Anyway, there is more to this, but the bottom line is that "IFR certified" is a term that has no real meaning (except perhaps for the currency of pitot-static and transponder checks) when applied to an aircraft.

When a applied to a particular piece of equipment, such as a GPS, it has a specific and important meaning.

Kevin

I pasted the above comments into an email and sent it to Jenny to get an answer from FSDO. Looks like the person she talked to focused on the '00/00' part of the statement. He said... don't worry about it. It doesn't apply to you. He thinks they are referring to Cat 3 certified aircraft. zero/zero.

Funny. I read that as a replacement for a date. As in "IFR Certified, 11/04". Everbody sees things differently...

Kevin

YES I WAS REFERRING TO DATES
THAT IS NORMALLY HOW I HAVE SEEN THE ADS FOR VARIOUS AIRCRAFT READ.

THE PITOT STATIC SYSTEM AND TRANSPONDER MAY BE ALL THEY ARE REFERRING TO.

THANKS FOR THE INPUT

With that being a date, I would agree that they are referring to the Pitot Static and transponder checks.

Be aware that even though those two checks are usually performed on the same date, they don't have to be.