Graham Warwick/ATLANTA
The US Federal Aviation Administration has been urged to delay an advisory circular permitting use of personal computers (PCs) for flight training, after research questioned the extent to which learning by computer transfers to the cockpit.
The FAA plans to grant credit for up to 10h training for an instrument rating to students using PC-based aviation training-devices instead of traditional flight simulators. The flight-training committee of the US National Air Transportation Association requested the delay after a study by the University of Illinois indicated that learning transfer does occur, but to an unknown extent. The committee believes that the study gives sufficient reason to delay the advisory circular until it "-can fully understand how the approval of these devices will affect the flight-training industry". Committee members include people from several of the USA's largest flight schools.
Source: Flight International