Train-the-Trainer by DataHomeLab

9.2 Definition of Flight Training Device

The definition

A flight training device is any device having a full-scale replica of instruments, flight deck area, or an enclosed airplane cockpit, including the equipment and programs necessary to represent the airplane in ground and flight conditions. Motion cueing or visual system is not required.

Reading the definition operationally

Three elements compose the operational test for whether a device qualifies as a flight training device:

  • Full-scale replica of instruments, flight deck area, or enclosed cockpit. The geometric envelope of the trainee's working environment must match the airplane it represents. Sub-scale, schematic, or computer-screen-only representations do not qualify; the trainee must operate in the same physical space they will operate in on the line.
  • Equipment and programs necessary to represent the airplane in ground and flight conditions. The device must reproduce the airplane's response to crew inputs across both ground (taxi, brake, push-back) and flight (manoeuvre, system-failure, environmental) conditions. Static cockpit mock-ups without responsive systems do not qualify.
  • Motion cueing or visual system is not required. This is the key contrast with the higher 9.3 Device Levels. A device can satisfy the floor definition without a motion platform and without a visual system; lower levels of the device taxonomy (Levels 4 and 5) qualify under the definition even though they would not qualify as full-flight simulators under the 9.4 Types of Simulators.

Where the definition leads

9.3 Device Levels immediately layers a seven-level device taxonomy on top of this definition. The floor definition determines membership of the category; the device-levels taxonomy determines what each member of the category can be used for. 9.4 Types of Simulators then introduces the orthogonal letter scheme (A, B, C, D) used for full-motion simulators. The two schemes coexist: a Level 6 or Level 7 device under the seven-level taxonomy can also be classified as a Type B, C, or D simulator under the A-to-D scheme depending on its motion and visual fidelity.

Connections

  • 9.1 Introduction. Establishes that fidelity alone does not train pilots; the definition above draws the categorical line that fidelity stratifications then sit on.
  • 9.3 Device Levels. Layers the seven-level device taxonomy on top of the floor definition.
  • 9.4 Types of Simulators. The orthogonal A-to-D classification that applies to the higher-fidelity members of the category.
  • FSTD. The ICAO Doc 9625 umbrella concept; ICAO uses "Flight Simulation Training Device" where the course manual uses "Flight Training Device", but the categorical question (full-scale replica with the equipment and programs to represent the airplane) is the same.