Preflight Preparation
Airworthiness and equipment
Every IFR flight starts with the regulatory checklist. The equipment required by 14 CFR 91.205 is remembered as GRABCARD: Generator/alternator, Radios (nav and comm), Attitude indicator, Ball (slip-skid), Clock with a sweep second hand, sensitive Altimeter, Rate-of-turn indicator, Directional gyro. Three items run on calendar months: static system and altimeter (91.411, 24 months), transponder and encoder (91.413, 24 months), and the VOR check (91.171, logged within the preceding 30 days; plus or minus 4 degrees on the ground, 6 degrees airborne).
Weather, fuel, alternates
Fuel under 91.167 is destination, approach, then 45 minutes at normal cruise. An alternate is required by the "1-2-3 rule" (91.169) when the forecast, from one hour before to one hour after ETA, shows a ceiling below 2,000 ft or visibility below 3 SM. Standard alternate minimums are 600 ft and 2 SM for precision approaches, 800 ft and 2 SM for non-precision, unless the plate raises them.
Traps and a worked example
The 1-2-3 window is a forecast question; the current METAR is irrelevant. Currency (61.57(c)) is calendar-month based: six approaches, holding, and intercepting/tracking within the six calendar months preceding the flight, in the same category. Charted takeoff minimums are regulatory for part 121/135, not for a part 91 flight.
Worked example: ETA at KXYZ is 1800Z. The TAF forecasts BKN015 from 1700Z. A 1,500 ft ceiling inside the 1700-1900Z window means an alternate is required, and that alternate must offer 600-2 or 800-2.