Sim time towards R-ATP
 

Hello,



This post is for ERAU R-ATP alumni—preferably those who graduated within the past 10 years.



Can anyone confirm if the simulator time completed during 141 courses counted toward your 1,000-hour total for the R-ATP? I’m heading to the regionals in one week and want to be sure.



Also, did any of your logbook auditors request a Letter of Authorization (LOA) to verify that time?



Thanks in advance!

Go look at 61.159. I highly doubt they were using a FFS (full flight simulator), but you need to know if it was an FTD or an AATD. Just to break it down, the two main categories are FSTD and ATD. FSTD includes FFS and FTD. ATD is basically the non-specific generic stuff that doesn't meet the requirements for FSS/FTD, with subcategories of basic/advanced.

You can break it down from there, in 61.159 where it says FFS or FTD, you can count FFS or FTD. Where it says only FFS, you can only count FFS. If it doesn't say ATD, you can't count ATD.

Sometimes in the 141 courses, they could use both an FTD or AATD or sometimes just one of those. If you don't know what you used, then you got a problem. I would make sure to write out what level in the logbook for that purpose.

Due to the convoluted nature of the relevant regs, and the nebulous nature of sim authorization, I would try to obtain copies of the authorization letters for the sims you used.

If you log time in an airplane with an N-number and a type code, it is safe to assume that airplane is legal for aeronautical experience in the obvious category and class.

But they don't have that safe assumption with some random sim time, so they might ask for the LOA. I don't think they would be required to, Joe Bob's 3-Day ATP Mill probably wouldn't care. But for example an airline might be concerned about training a pilot, putting them online in revenue service and then later learning that the sim time on which their ATP eligibility was based is no bueno. Awkward and disruptive.

You'd think these schools would know this by now, and just give everyone a packet with copies of all the sim LOA's.

I would reach out to the recruiters and ask them specifically how their training department and APD's deal with this. They might take it at face value if your sim time came from a school like ERAU.

But regardless of whether anyone asks you to prove it, if you put that time on an 8700 when you apply for a rating then YOU are certifying that it's legit. Did you try contacting Riddle?

At the end of the day you can only use 25hrs. So before you answer the question about LOAs for sim time, how many hours are you using versus how many hours of total time do you have?

If you’re right at 1,000 hrs with 25 hrs being sim time, then yeah, you gotta get it all straightened out. When I went thru initial, the APD busted out the calculator for my sim partner because he was cutting it that close.

When using RPA sims for time, they will ask which sims (sim ID#) were used and such. So I can only assume they will ask for outside sim info but I do not have any direct knowledge about how strict they are. Hopefully someone who’s been in your situation will be able to help out.

What type of FTDs does ERAU use? Honestly curious.

CFR 61.159(a)
 

CFR 61.159 Aeronautical experience: Airplane category rating.

(4) 75 hours of instrument flight time, in actual or simulated instrument conditions, subject to the following:

(i) Except as provided in paragraph (a)(4)(ii) of this section, an applicant may not receive credit for more than a total of 25 hours of simulated instrument time in a full flight simulator or flight training device.

(ji) A maximum of 50 hours of training in a fuil flight simulator or flight training device may be credited toward the instrument flight time requirements of paragraph (a)(4) of this section if the training was accomplished in a course conducted by a training center certificated under part 142 of this chapter.

(iii) Training in a full flight simulator or flight training device must be accomplished in a full flight simulator or flight training device, representing an airplane.

The FAA simulator list shows ER with 16 sims, one a level D CRJ FFS and 15 level 5 or 6 FTD, mainly C172s. Every FAA approved sim has an ID number. Probably too late for the IP but whenever I’m in a sim I get the ID number and enter it in my logbook.

Level 5s and 6s back in the day. I know of plans for FFS now.

ERAU has had a 142 school designation and courses at both main campuses. There was a question of whether it was applied properly, but Daytona Beach was doing this for the longest and may still be doing it.

Daytona Beach is the only location shown on the FAA simulator list for ERAU.