"FAA approved" misleads a lot of people. It means that someone at FAA HQ has
evaluated the box and decided that it has training value. Each individual
location, however, has to be checked out by the local FSDO and a letter of
authorization issued. The FSDO came into my place with a 30-page checklist,
looking into such things as VOR sensitivity, accuracy of the turn-and-bank,
aerodynamic responses, etc. They flew the AST-300 for most of a day before
conferring their blessing on it. The fact that the box had been "approved"
by HQ meant nothing.

Bob Gardner

"Bartscher" wrote in message
...
I also had a letter from the FSDO laying out
exactly what the AST-300 could be used for...does the box you used have
similar authentication?

Bob Gardner

Well, the Frasca web site was only partially useful here. They did a good
job
of reviewing what parts of what ratings the 141 can be used for, but they
don't
say much about how to log it.

http://www.frasca.com/web_pages/info...n/logtime2.htm

http://www.frasca.com/web_pages/brochures/141bro.htm

They also managed to call it both a simulator and a flight training device
on
the same page (not helpful). They do claim the following: "FAA approved
under
14 CFR parts 61 and 141. Guaranteed FAA Level 2 or 3 qualification We not
only
build these devices to AC120-45A Level 2 or 3 standards, but we can also
guarantee that they can be qualified in conjunction with the National
Simulator
Program Managers office in Atlanta". Of course I'm not quite sure what
that
means.

Sounds like it is Simulated Instrument but maybe not Total Flight Time
(which
seems odd, not that it has to make sense). Also, the consensus appears to
be
that it was neither day or night (which does make sense since there wasn't
a
visual system)

Thanks,
Eric Bartsch