"Teacherjh" wrote in message
...

The hood (badly) simulates IMC. How would you simulate a circling
approach?
Anything which works would be ok with me (including a more expensive
simulator,
or a real airplane). It is a task that should be tested.

There are two reasonably practical ways to simulate a circling approach in
an FTD or Advanced ATD, yet neither is "legal" for logging a circling
approach.

First, some devices (i.e. the Elite series Advanced ATD) allow the
instructor to switch the visuals between a left, forward, or right view at
the request of the pilot.

Second, an FTD with a moving map GPS, i.e. a Garmin 530, can display the
runway reasonably well enough to allow the pilot to maintain situational
awareness when not on final.

I think either of these techniques combined with night low IMC weather
conditions reasonably makes the point a pilot regarding the difficulty of
completing a low visibility circling approach.


No, of course not. But it should require a device that does what it needs
to
do. If you use a simulator, it should simulate all the tasks. If the

An FTD or Advanced ATD simulates all the tasks that were until recently
required on an IPC. What has changed is that the required tasks have now
been modified.

Historically very, very few simulators have been able to simulate "all" the
tasks. To this day many airline-quality true simulators only have night
visual displays with few if any ground references; such an advanced
simulator cannot be used for the very simple student pilot task of daytime
pilotage. Should we decide that such a simulator can no longer be used to
conduct an ATP 6-month line check? Would it be reasonable to add daytime
pilotage to the ATP line check and thus render the simulator incapable of
completing the task?

It's always the middle of the game.

True, but how much notification is reasonable?

I suspect we will all be required to have Mode S transponders someday but I
am quite sure there would be an uproar if today it were announced that they
are required by October... ditto for any major airplane hardware requirement
which has been phased in by the FAA.


--------------------
Richard Kaplan, CFII

www.flyimc.com