BIFR

[Charan Kumar]

Last Friday, visibility near Oakland was less than a 1/4 mile and Heavy Fog OVC at 100ft. While there were many birds sitting nearby, awake, only one or two could be seen flying. Were these the only ones IFR or B(ird) IFR certified? How can you spot the ones certified for BIFR?

[Don Desfosse]

Heh...  Years ago I was flying an approach into an airport that was slightly below minimums, I think it was advertising 100 and 1/4 in heavy snow and windy as hell.  But the 100 was broken, and the machine was reporting ceiling variable between 100 and 400.  So on the fourth approach, the Tower controller came on and said, "You know, the birds aren't even flying today...."

[Charan Kumar]

Ah, you see Don, your case was different, those birds probably didn't have anti-ice in their wings, temperature was alright in CA. Btw, you said that was when you were flying, was anti-ice invented way back then  (j/k j/k)