subject: Instrument Flight Simulator - Faa Encourages Leveraging Flight Simulations As Credit Toward Instrume [print this page] If you happen to be a private pilot who is trying to add an Instrument Rating to your ticket, then you might already be aware that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) makes it possible you to apply twenty instruction hours of your time in training in an instrument flight simulator to be counted toward your instrument rating.
Needless to say you can certainly spend greater than than twenty hours training using a simulation program, yet only the first twenty hours will count, and each of those twenty must be spent with an instructor and not by yourself, using a Federal Aviation Administration approved flight simulator program. You are certainly totally free to spend as much time as you would like on a home-based simulator for the Personal pc to capitalize on the quantity of time you get to practice and improve your skills.
There are numerous reasons why the Federal Aviation Administration allows for you to utilise an airplane simulation program to log instrument training time in place of time spent in a real aircraft.
Among those reasons is because instrument flight simulator software is able to replicate the behavior and performance of an actual aircraft down to the minutest detail. Thus, training for instrument flight in a simulator is virtually the same experience as training for instrument flight in an actual airplane under the hood.
The major difference between these 2 experiences of simulation vs . actual flight (with regards to instrument training) is that you will not be able to encounter the sensations of movement that may otherwise trick you, causing spatial disorientation, during certain moves in flight such as climbs, turns, and descents (which you are trained to disregard anyway, since you must rely on the instruments and not what your 5 senses are telling you).
Among other reasons is the expense. Operating an instrument flight simulator is without doubt a great deal less costly than renting an airplane.
A flight simulation program can help to close the gap during those unforeseen periods of indefinite downtime between flights.
It may even assist you to brush up on your skills, help you maintain your proficiency, and may even help you to get some additional time in those areas in which you could see some improvement.
Flight simulation software can help you become a safer pilot.
They can even help you to save money, as well as time, on needless training or unnecessarily having to repeat performing the same practice maneuvers over and over again.
The good news is, flight simulator technology is so sophisticated, that flying a simulator is almost every bit as realistic as flying the real thing. The instrument panel is identical. The control inputs are the same. The "map" programmed into the simulator is based on real life cartographic information. The manner in which the aircraft performs to various internal (weight and balance, fuel, aircraft performance) and external (weather phenomena, air temperature) forces is intended to imitate real life situations.
For many people, a flight simulation program is merely a really high-tech video game. And on many levels, it can be appreciated at that level. After all, you'll never need to worry about wrecking the airplane in a simulation program!
But for many people, a flight simulation program is a serious educational tool, and for counltess professional aviators, it is fundamental part of one's aviation career.
