Editing Instrument flight rules (section)

{{Short description|Civil aviation regulations for flight on instruments}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Redirect|IFR}}
[[File:IFR in IMC over SLI into LGB on the VOR and ILS in a 172 photo D Ramey Logan.jpg|thumb|IFR in between cloud layers in a [[Cessna 172]]]]

In [[aviation]], '''instrument flight rules''' ('''IFR''') is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of [[civil aviation]] aircraft operations; the other is [[visual flight rules]] (VFR).

The U.S. [[Federal Aviation Administration]]'s (FAA) ''Instrument Flying Handbook'' defines IFR as: "Rules and regulations established by the FAA to govern flight under conditions in which flight by outside visual reference is not safe. IFR flight depends upon flying by reference to instruments in the [[cockpit|flight deck]], and navigation is accomplished by reference to electronic signals."<ref name="FAA-H-8083-51A">{{citation
 | contribution = Instrument Flying Handbook
 | title = Instrument Flight Rules (defined)
 | publisher = Federal Aviation Administration
 | place = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
 | pages = G–9
 | year = 2008
 | contribution-url = https://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/media/FAA-H-8083-15B.pdf
 }}
</ref> It is also a term used by [[pilot]]s and [[Air traffic controller|controllers]] to indicate the type of [[flight plan]] an aircraft is flying, such as an IFR or VFR flight plan.<ref>{{citation
 | contribution = Aeronautical Information Manual
 | title = Instrument Flight Rules (defined)
 | publisher = Federal Aviation Administration
 | place = Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
 | pages = PCG I−4
 | date = 2010-02-11
 | contribution-url = https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/media/aim.pdf
 }}
</ref>