Originally Posted by Herman Snerd

Hi All,

Just joined this forum. Has been my experience so far that pilots are a community who look out for an help each other, which I think is awesome.

My 17 y.o. son is taking his check-ride/ earning his PPL this month. He wants to be a commercial pilot for a career. Applying for a flight program at universities to start next year.

I notice the FAA changed it's regulations to allow up to 50 hours toward the 250 needed for a commercial license and I think 100 hours toward the 1000 needed for a restricted ATP license l in a Full Type D flight simulator. Are there any simulators one can purchase that, while maybe hokey and maybe PC based, technically can be used for these hours?

I see some Type D simulators cost millions, and yet I'm just wondering if there is a version that qualifies that "counts" toward these goals that might be PC based or cheaper. He has a wet rate of about 100.00 to fly now- only pays for fuel. I'm on a bit of a mission to avoid spending 70k to get to 250 hours like the colleges he is looking for estimate! So if there is such a thing as a 3000.00 simulator that counts to use for 100 hours, we'd jump on it. I'm doubtful there is but figured I would please ask.

Apologies that I'm showing my lack of knowledge here, but if you have any recommendations, please let me know. All feedback welcome.

Thanks,
Hermie