Flight Simulation Training Device (FSTD)

Flight Simulation Training Device (FSTD) is the umbrella term for the ground-based training devices a regulator has qualified for credit against required flight time. Devices fall on a fidelity ladder, with corresponding qualification standards and creditable hours.

Full Flight Simulator (FFS) is the highest-fidelity category, certified at FAA Levels A through D or EASA equivalents, with full motion, accurate aircraft-specific cockpit, and validated flight model. FFS Level D devices can be used for zero-flight-time type rating issuance.

Flight Training Device (FTD) under FAA rules and Flight and Navigation Procedures Trainer (FNPT) under EASA rules represent the next tier — accurate cockpit, aerodynamic model, and instrument suite, but typically without motion. FNPT II is widely used for IR training and credits a defined portion of instrument hours toward the rating.

Aviation Training Device (ATD) — split into Basic ATD (BATD) and Advanced ATD (AATD) under FAA rules — is the lower-fidelity, lower-cost tier suitable for procedures, instrument familiarization, and limited credit toward instrument training and currency. EASA's analogous category is the Basic Instrument Training Device (BITD).

Using each device for credit requires regulator-approved training programmes, qualified instructors, and current device qualification certificates — the device itself must be re-qualified periodically, and any modification can affect its qualification.

Simulation is one of the most powerful margin levers a flight school has. Instrument training, in particular, can be delivered profitably on an FNPT II or AATD at a fraction of aircraft hourly cost, with weather and fuel concerns eliminated. But the operational complexity is real: each device has its own qualification level, its own creditable-hour ceiling per training event, and its own instructor authorization rules. A school that mis-credits simulator hours toward a rating discovers the problem at the skill test or, worse, at audit.

Utilization is the second pressure. An expensive FFS that sits idle is a balance-sheet liability; a fully booked FFS is a cash machine. Schools struggle to balance training-customer slots, recurrency-customer slots, and proficiency-check slots on the same device without conflict.

Aviatize treats each FSTD as a first-class bookable resource, with its own qualification level, creditable-hour rules per course, and authorized-instructor list. Booking a simulator session for instrument training automatically credits hours against the correct training requirement up to the device's regulatory cap, preventing both under-crediting (which costs students money) and over-crediting (which costs the school its compliance posture).

For schools running mixed device fleets — an FFS, two FNPTs, and three AATDs — Aviatize's planning engine optimizes assignment so that each lesson runs on the lowest-cost device sufficient for its training credit, freeing higher-fidelity devices for lessons that genuinely need them. The result is measurable utilization improvement on capital-intensive equipment.