Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.") It's part of what makes aviation so exciting for all of us... just when you think you've seen it all, along comes a scenario you've never imagined.

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators, and as representatives of the flying community. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

It is our unabashed goal that "Aero-Tips" will help our readers become better, safer pilots -- as well as introducing our ground-bound readers to the concepts and principles that keep those strange aluminum-and-composite contraptions in the air... and allow them to soar magnificently through it.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network. Suggestions for future Aero-Tips are always welcome, as are additions or discussion of each day's tips. Remember... when it comes to being better pilots, we're all in this together.

Aero-Tips 04.23.06

In a recent Aero-Craft audio presentation, Pete Combs and I talked about simulators, Flight Training Devices and other flight simulations as a means to increase proficiency and safety. One question that came up was: "When is simulator time loggable?"

Here are the specific references as to when you can log time in simulation:

FAR 61.51 tells us we can log time in simulators or approved flight training devices (FTDs) toward certificate or rating experience or currency requirements if the time was "training received in a flight simulator or flight training device from an authorized instructor." 

The time can be recorded as simulated instrument and dual received. It cannot be logged as pilot-in-command time (a logbook column reserved for experience in aircraft). And you need an authorized instructor providing instruction to log the simulator or FTD time.

We need to know, in FAA terms, what "simulator" and "approved flight training device" mean. Here’s where it gets fun—because these terms do not appear in the FAR 1 definitions. Google long enough and you’ll find Advisory Circular 120-45A, Airplane Flight Training Device Qualification. Here we (finally) find definitions:

An airplane simulator is a "full size replica of a specific type or make, model and series airplane cockpit, including... equipment and computer software…necessary to represent the airplane in ground and flight operations, a visual system providing an out-of-the-cockpit view, a force (motion) cueing system which provides cues at least equivalent to that of a three degree of freedom motion system," and is otherwise in compliance with requirements in AC 120-45A. (Example: the MD-11 simulator in FedEx’s training center at Memphis, TN -- MMC, thanks again for the ride!)

A flight training device is a "full scale replica of an airplane’s instruments, equipment, panels and controls in an open flight deck area or an enclosed airplane cockpit, including…equipment and computer software…necessary to represent the airplane in ground and flight conditions..." An FTD "does not require a force (motion)…or visual system," and is otherwise in compliance with requirements of AC 120-45A. (Example: most FlightSafety, SIMCOM, Recurrent Training Center, Flight Level Aviation, etc., and university/large FBO systems by any number of FTD manufacturers).

Note: Simulators and FTDs do not earn designation permitting "loggable" time until the specific device is inspected and approved in place by the local FAA.

Aero-tip of the day: To know whether you can log simulation time, you need to know the certification level of the hardware. Tomorrow—PC-based "simulators" and computer games.

FMI: Aero-Tips