Says Safety Will Be Compromised By Discouraging Simulator Use

IMC Club International president Radek Wyrzykowski panned the FAA’s Notice of Policy Change in the Federal Register for the reduction of time allowed in FAA Approved Training Devices (ATDs) in a statement released Thursday. The policy change would cut to 10 the number of simulator hours that can be logged toward an instrument rating.

"On January 2nd, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) posted a Notice of Policy Change in the Federal Register for the use of FAA Approved Training Devices (ATDs). This unexpected change in a policy for GA flight simulators may harm aviation safety by discouraging the use of flight simulators in instrument training," Wyrzykowski said in the statement. "GA simulators affected by the FAA change in policy will include virtually all FAA approved Personal Computer Aviation Training Devices (PCATD), Flight Training Devices (FTD) level 1-3, Basic Aviation Training Devices (BATD) and Advanced Aviation Training Devices (AATD). It will limit pilots to the maximum of 10 hours of simulator time loggable toward an instrument rating.  Some ATD simulators currently are allowed to be used as many as 20 hours to count toward an instrument rating.

"Since flight education should not be about reaching minimums but rather gaining knowledge and skill as necessary, I would like to appeal to all instructors to incorporate ATD’s in their flight educational activities regardless of the ability to log the time.

"Although FAA is not preventing any flight instructor from using an ATD in their flight training as much as it is needed, the IMC Club International, Inc. is seeing this time allowed reduction as a potential step in a wrong direction. We strongly believe that setting appropriate minimums rather than limiting the maximum use should encourage use of modern simulators, especially with today’s complex cockpit environment. It is our responsibility, as the pilot community as whole, to respond, comment and stop any regulatory changes that may impact the growth, and safety of General Aviation community regardless if we are affected directly by it or not.

"I would like to appeal to all our members and all pilots who are reading this to post their comments on the FAA’s website.  Our power to influence positive outcomes is in numbers. Be brief and to the point in your opinion to allow real possibility of review by the agency."

FMI: www.IMCClubs.org