The Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) in respect of the new FAA Simulator Document FAR Part 60 is now available on the FAA website. Comments will be accepted until 21st December 2007

PART 60 - OVERVIEW

Simulation & Training

New rule for simulator qualification
Aviation Week & Space Technology
11/26/2007, page 65

Edward H. Phillips
Washington

New regulation will upgrade standards for simulators, mandate quality control for pilot training facilities

Printed headline: Sims Rule

The FAA’s new FAR Part 60, scheduled for implementation in May, will be aimed at codifying qualification standards for simulators and harmonizing U.S. regulations with those in Europe.

FAA officials say plans call for FAR Part 60 to become effective May 30, 2008, with a final compliance date of May 30, 2010. The rule has been co-developed during the past seven years by the agency’s National Simulator Program (NSP) office and the simulation industry, says Bob Davis, manager of the NSP based in Atlanta.

Chief impetus behind creating Part 60 stems from the FAA’s long-time practice of overseeing the qualification and use of simulators through a series of Advisory Circulars (ACs), which are not regulatory but advisory only, says Davis. The time has come to transition simulator information from ACs into a set of regulations “to give a legal basis to the process of qualifying simulators,” he says.

“Part 60 is more comprehensive than the ACs and gives industry a better understanding of what the FAA wants to achieve,” he says. Provision has been made for future appendices to the rule that will help the agency keep pace with new technologies, such as electrically operated full flight simulators and advanced visual systems.

The FAA will keep pace with future developments in visual systems technology used in Level D simulators such as the Gulfstream G550, by issuing appendices to FAR Part 60.Credit: FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL

Davis says the rule also will bring the U.S. into line with European Joint Airworthiness Authority standards put in place through JAR-STD 1A amendment 3, which is more current than the FAA’s advisory publications. The agency says the cost to comply with Part 60 will be minimal for both simulator manufacturers and sponsors (training companies that use the simulators).

A key component of the regulation is that sponsors must outline an approved quality management system about how they will maintain simulators as qualified by the FAA. The system also must include a plan to upgrade to a more sophisticated system similar to those in Europe.

Davis says although Part 60 affects Level A and Level B simulators, which are almost extinct, it focuses chiefly on Level C and D installations and Level 4-7 FTDs. He says responsibility for qualification of Level 1-3 FTDs, which are elementary devices used primarily by small flight schools, has been reassigned to the agency’s general aviation office.

The rule:

•Establishes more stringent testing and qualification standards for visual scenes used for Class I, II and III airport models. The regulation will codify existing practice for visual scene quality, feature recognition and control of the scene as well as management capability. Scenes also must provide an “accurate visual relationship” between the scenes or airport models and other aspects of the airport environment, an accurate representation of aircraft and associated equipment, and how these scenes are controlled by the simulation instructor.

Davis says that additional scenes or airport models not necessary for qualification of the simulator can be used for Line Oriented Flight Training or other tasks. He says these models were not routinely evaluated by the FAA nor were they tasked to meet specific criteria. Under Part 60, however, the agency is proposing to issue a Flight Simulation Training Device Directive requiring sponsors to verify that Class II visual scenes or airport models meet the new requirements as listed in Appendix A.

•Imposes requirements for objective training standards. These include idle and emergency descents, pitch trim rates and autopilot landings; takeoffs, hover, vertical climbs and normal landings for helicopter simulators; spiral stability for both airplane and helicopters; engine inoperative rejected takeoff for helicopters; motion and visual tests for helicopters.

•Mandates technical changes for visual systems on Level C and D units. For example, surface resolution of objects in the visual scene must be able to be “visually resolved” at 2 arc min. instead of 3 arc min. The horizontal field of view (FOV) will be increased to 180 deg. from 150 deg. The FAA says this change will provide “better training to pilots by improving visual cues and better replicating outside views.”

•Upgrades sound systems for Level D installations. The rule contains a standardized list of sounds to be recorded and compared during initial and subsequent evaluations, and will apply to simulators used for both piston-powered and jet-powered aircraft. Simulators also will be tested for frequency response and background noise.

•Contains requirements for motion systems installed in Level 7 helicopter flight training devices (FTDs).

•Outlines standards for visual systems used in Level C and D full flight simulators. For example, a simulator qualified at Level C or D after May 30, 2008, would be required to have FOV and systems capacity requirements for the visual system increased by 20%. Davis says these and other upgrades in the new Part 60 “are consistent with international standards that simulator manufacturers are already following.”

In addition, although it is a voluntary training option within the rule, sponsors would be required to demonstrate the ability of Level 7 helicopter FTDs to meet “specific requirements for visual and motion systems.” These include providing a FOV of 150 deg. for both pilots simultaneously, and a system capable of providing an indication of rotor vibration with changes in RPM and collective control input.

Davis says the FAA conducts initial and annual reevaluations of nearly 700 motion-based simulators worldwide using a staff of about 30 inspectors. A majority of the simulators are qualified as Level C and D devices. As the airline industry continues to grow in the years ahead, the number of newsimulators entering service is projected to increase annually. “In 2006 we qualified 37, in 2007 we approved about 45 and next year we anticipate qualifying 15 in the first quarter alone, so that’s about 60 per year.”

In general, the advent of Part 60 has been well received by the training and simulation industry. FlightSafety International (FSI), a major provider of flight training with 200 simulators operating at 42 centers in the U.S., Canada, France and the U.K., has been working closely with the FAA and will be fully prepared to comply with Part 60 by May. An FSI official says there have been “no significant issues during the transition period, and we feel that the harmonization between this FAR and the international standards will be positive for the industry.”