Appendix H to Part 121 - Advanced Simulation
This appendix provides guidelines and a means for achieving flightcrew
training in advanced airplane simulators. This appendix describes the
simulator and visual system requirements which must be achieved to obtain
approval of certain types of training in the simulator. The requirements
in this appendix are in addition to the simulator approval requirements in
§121.407. Each simulator which is used under this appendix must be
approved as a Level B, C, or D simulator, as appropriate.
To obtain FAA approval of the simulator for a specific level, the
following must be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the Administrator:
1. Documented proof of compliance with the appropriate simulator,
visual system, and additional training requirements of this appendix for
the level for which approval is requested.
2. An evaluation of the simulator to ensure that its ground, flight,
and landing performance matches the type of airplane simulated.
3. An evaluation of the appropriate simulator and visual system
requirements of the level for which approval is requested.
CHANGES TO SIMULATOR PROGRAMING
While a need exists for some flexibility in making changes in the
software program, strict scrutiny of these changes is essential to ensure
that the simulator retains its ability to duplicate the airplane's flight
and ground characteristics. Therefore, the following procedure must be
followed to allow these changes without affecting the approval of an
appendix H simulator:
1. Twenty-one calendar days before making changes to the software
program which might impact flight or ground dynamics of an appendix H
simulator, a complete list of these planned changes, including dynamics
related to the motion and visual systems, must be provided in writing to
the FAA office responsible for conducting the recurrent evaluation of that
simulator.
2. If the FAA does not object to the planned change within 21 calendar
days, the operator may make the change.
3. Changes which might affect the approved simulator Level B test guide
must be tested by the operator in the simulator to determine the impact of
the change before submission to the FAA.
4. Software changes actually installed must be summarized and provided
to the FAA. When the operator's test shows a difference in simulator
performance due to a change, an amended copy of the test guide page which
includes the new simulator test results will also be provided to update
the FAA's copy of the test guide.
5. The FAA may examine supporting data or flight check the simulator,
or both, to ensure that the aerodynamic quality of the simulator has not
been degraded by any change in software programing.
6. All requests for changes are evaluated on the basis of the same
criteria used in the initial approval of the simulator for Level B, C, or
D.
SIMULATOR MINIMUM EQUIPMENT LIST (MEL)
Because of the strict tolerances and other approval requirements of
appendix H simulators, the simulator can provide realistic training with
certain nonessential items inoperative. Therefore, an operator may operate
its simulator under an MEL which has been approved by the Administrator
for that simulator. The MEL includes simulator components and indicates
the type of training or checking that is authorized if the component
becomes inoperative. To accomplish this, the component is placed in one of
the following categories along with any remarks applicable to the
component's use in the training program:
1. No training or checking.
2. Training in specific maneuvers.
3. Certification and checking.
4. Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT).
ADVANCED SIMULATION TRAINING PROGRAM
For an operator to conduct Level C or D training under this appendix
all required simulator instruction and checks must be conducted under an
advanced simulation training program which is approved by the
Administrator for the operator. This program must also ensure that all
instructors and check airmen used in appendix H training and checking are
highly qualified to provide the training required in the training program.
The advanced simulation training program shall include the following:
1. The operator's initial, transition, upgrade, and recurrent simulator
training programs and its procedures for re-establishing recency of
experience in the simulator.
2. How the training program will integrate Level B, C, and D simulators
with other simulators and training devices to maximize the total training,
checking, and certification functions.
3. Documentation that each instructor and check airman has served for
at least 1 year in that capacity in a certificate holder's approved
program or has served for at least 1 year as a pilot in command or second
in command in an airplane of the group in which that pilot is instructing
or checking.
4. A procedure to ensure that each instructor and check airman actively
participates in either an approved regularly scheduled line flying program
as a flight crewmember or an approved line observation program in the same
airplane type for which that person is instructing or checking.
5. A procedure to ensure that each instructor and check airman is given
a minimum of 4 hours of training each year to become familiar with the
operator's advanced simulation training program, or changes to it, and to
emphasize their respective roles in the program. Training for simulator
instructors and check airmen shall include training policies and
procedures, instruction methods and techniques, operation of simulator
controls (including environmental and trouble panels), limitations of the
simulator, and minimum equipment required for each course of training.
6. A special Line Oriented Flight Training (LOFT) program to facilitate
the transition from the simulator to line flying. This LOFT program
consists of at least a 4-hour course of training for each flightcrew. It
also contains at least two representative flight segments of the
operator's route. One of the flight segments contains strictly normal
operating procedures from push back at one airport to arrival at another.
Another flight segment contains training in appropriate abnormal and
emergency flight operations.
LEVEL B
Training and Checking Permitted
1. Recency of experience (§121.439).
2. Night takeoffs and landings (part 121, appendix E).
3. Landings in a proficiency check without the landing on the line
requirements (§121.441).
Simulator Requirements
1. Aerodynamic programing to include:
a. Ground effect -- for example, roundout, flare, and touchdown. This
requires data on lift, drag, and pitching moment in ground effect.
b. Ground reaction -- Reaction of the airplane upon contact with the
runway during landing to include strut deflections, tire friction, and
side forces.
c. Ground handling characteristics -- steering inputs to include
crosswind, braking, thrust reversing, deceleration, and turning radius.
2. Minimum of 3-axis freedom of motion systems.
3. Level B landing maneuver test guide to verify simulator data with
actual airplane flight test data, and provide simulator performance tests
for Level B initial approval.
4. Multichannel recorders capable of recording Level B performance
tests.
Visual Requirements
1. Visual system compatibility with aerodynamic programing.
2. Visual system response time from pilot control input to visual
system output shall not exceed 300 milliseconds more than the movement of
the airplane to a similar input. Visual system response time is defined as
the completion of the visual display scan of the first video field
containing different information resulting from an abrupt control input.
3. A means of recording the visual response time for comparison with
airplane data.
4. Visual cues to assess sink rate and depth perception during
landings.
5. Visual scene to instrument correlation to preclude perceptible lags.
LEVEL C
Training and Checking Permitted
1. For all pilots, transition training between airplanes in the same
group, and for a pilot in command the certification check required by
§61.153(g) this chapter.
2. Upgrade to pilot-in-command training and the certification check
when the pilot --
a. Has previously qualified as second in command in the equipment to
which the pilot is upgrading;
b. Has at least 500 hours of actual flight time while serving as second
in command in an airplane of the same group; and
c. Is currently serving as second in command in an airplane in this
same group.
3. Initial pilot-in-command training and the certification check when
the pilot --
a. Is currently serving as second in command in an airplane of the same
group;
b. Has a minimum of 2,500 flight hours as second in command in an
airplane of the same group; and
c. Has served as second in command on at least two airplanes of the
same group.
4. For all second-in command pilot applicants who meet the aeronautical
experience requirements of §61.159 of this chapter in the airplane, the
initial and upgrade training and checking required by this part, and the
certification check requirements of §61.153 of this chapter.
Simulator Requirements
1. Representative crosswind and three-dimensional windshear dynamics
based on airplane related data.
2. Representative stopping and directional control forces for at least
the following runway conditions based on airplane related data:
a. Dry.
b. Wet.
c. Icy.
d. Patchy wet.
e. Patchy icy.
f. Wet on rubber residue in touchdown zone.
3. Representative brake and tire failure dynamics (including antiskid)
and decreased brake efficiency due to high brake temperatures based on
airplane related data.
4. A motion system which provides motion cues equal to or better than
those provided by a six-axis freedom of motion system.
5. Operational principal navigation systems, including electronic
flight instrument systems, INS, and OMEGA, if applicable.
6. Means for quickly and effectively testing simulator programing and
hardware.
7. Expanded simulator computer capacity, accuracy, resolution, and
dynamic response to meet Level C demands. Resolution equivalent to that of
at least a 32-bit word length computer is required for critical
aerodynamic programs.
8. Timely permanent update of simulator hardware and programing
subsequent to airplane modification.
9. Sound of precipitation and significant airplane noises perceptible
to the pilot during normal operations and the sound of a crash when the
simulator is landed in excess of landing gear limitations.
10. Aircraft control feel dynamics shall duplicate the airplane
simulated. This shall be determined by comparing a recording of the
control feel dynamics of the simulator to airplane measurements in the
takeoff, cruise, and landing configuration.
11. Relative responses of the motion system, visual system, and cockpit
instruments shall be coupled closely to provide integrated sensory cues.
These systems shall respond to abrupt pitch, roll, and yaw inputs at the
pilot's position within 150 milliseconds of the time, but not before the
time, when the airplane would respond under the same conditions. Visual
scene changes from steady state disturbance shall not occur before the
resultant motion onset but within the system dynamic response tolerance of
150 milliseconds. The test to determine compliance with these requirements
shall include simultaneously recording the analog output from the pilot's
control column and rudders, the output from an accelerometer attached to
the motion system platform located at an acceptable location near the
pilots' seats, the output signal to the visual system display (including
visual system analog delays), and the output signal to the pilot's
attitude indicator or an equivalent test approved by the Administrator.
The test results in a comparison of a recording of the simulator's
response to actual airplane response data in the takeoff, cruise, and
landing configuration.
Visual Requirements
1. Dusk and night visual scenes with at least three specific airport
representations, including a capability of at least 10 levels of
occulting, general terrain characteristics, and significant landmarks.
2. Radio navigation aids properly oriented to the airport runway
layout.
3. Test procedures to quickly confirm visual system color, RVR, focus,
intensity, level horizon, and attitude as compared to the simulator
attitude indicator.
4. For the approach and landing phase of flight, at and below an
altitude of 2,000 feet height above the airport (HAA) and within a radius
of 10 miles from the airport, weather representations including the
following:
a. Variable cloud density.
b. Partial obscuration of ground scenes; that is, the effect of a
scattered to broken cloud deck.
c. Gradual break out.
d. Patchy fog.
e. The effect of fog on airport lighting.
f. Category II and III weather conditions.
5. Continuous minimum visual field of view of 75° horizontal and 30°
vertical per pilot seat. Visual gaps shall occur only as they would in the
airplane simulated or as required by visual system hardware. Both pilot
seat visual systems shall be able to be operated simultaneously.
6. Capability to present ground and air hazards such as another
airplane crossing the active runway or converging airborne traffic.
LEVEL D
Training and Checking Permitted
Except for the requirements listed in the next sentence, all pilot
flight training and checking required by this part and the certification
check requirements of §61.153(g) of this chapter. The line check required
by §121.440 of this part, the static airplane requirements of appendix E
of this part, and the operating experience requirements of §121.434 of
this part must still be performed in the airplane.
Simulator Requirements
1. Characteristic buffet motions that result from operation of the
airplane (for example, high-speed buffet, extended landing gear, flaps,
nose-wheel scuffing, stall) which can be sensed at the flight deck. The
simulator must be programed and instrumented in such a manner that the
characteristic buffet modes can be measured and compared to airplane data.
Airplane data are also required to define flight deck motions when the
airplane is subjected to atmospheric disturbances such as rough air and
cobblestone turbulence. General purpose disturbance models that
approximate demonstrable flight test data are acceptable.
2. Aerodynamic modeling for aircraft for which an original type
certificate is issued after June 1, 1980, including low-altitude,
level-flight ground effect, mach effect at high altitude, effects of
airframe icing, normal and reverse dynamic thrust effect on control
surfaces, aero-elastic representations, and representations of
nonlinearities due to side slip based on airplane flight test data
provided by the manufacturer.
3. Realistic amplitude and frequency of cockpit noises and sounds,
including precipitation static and engine and airframe sounds. The sounds
shall be coordinated with the weather representations required in visual
requirement No. 3.
4. Self-testing for simulator hardware and programing to determine
compliance with Level B, C, and D simulator requirements.
5. Diagnostic analysis printout of simulator malfunctions sufficient to
determine MEL compliance. These printouts shall be retained by the
operator between recurring FAA simulator evaluations as part of the daily
discrepancy log required under §121.407(a)(5).
Visual Requirements
1. Daylight, dusk, and night visual scenes with sufficient scene
content to recognize a specific airport, the terrain, and major landmarks
around that airport and to successfully accomplish a visual landing. The
daylight visual scene must be part of a total daylight cockpit environment
which at least represents the amount of light in the cockpit on an
overcast day. For the purpose of this rule, daylight visual system is
defined as a visual system capable of producing, as a minimum, full color
presentations, scene content comparable in detail to that produced by
4,000 edges or 1,000 surfaces for daylight and 4,000 light points for
night and dusk scenes, 6-foot lamberts of light at the pilot's eye
(highlight brightness), 3-arc minutes resolution for the field of view at
the pilot's eye, and a display which is free of apparent quantization and
other distracting visual effects while the simulator is in motion. The
simulation of cockpit ambient lighting shall be dynamically consistent
with the visual scene displayed. For daylight scenes, such ambient
lighting shall neither "washout" the displayed visual scene nor fall below
5-foot lamberts of light as reflected from an approach plate at knee
height at the pilot's station and/or 2-foot lamberts of light as reflected
from the pilot's face.
2. Visual scenes portraying representative physical relationships which
are known to cause landing illusions in some pilots, including short
runway, landing over water, runway gradient, visual topographic features,
and rising terrain.
3. Special weather representations which include the sound, visual, and
motion effects of entering light, medium, and heavy precipitation near a
thunderstorm on takeoff, approach, and landings at and below an altitude
of 2,000 feet HAA and within a radius of 10 miles from the airport.
4. Level C visual requirements in daylight as well as dusk and night
representations.
5. Wet and, if appropriate for the operator, snow-covered runway
representations, including runway lighting effects.
6. Realistic color and directionality of airport lighting.
7. Weather radar presentations in aircraft where radar information is
presented on the pilot's navigation instruments. (Secs. 313, 601,
603, 604, Federal Aviation Act of 1958, as amended (49 U.S.C. 1354, 1421,
1423, 1424); sec. 6(c), Department of Transportation Act (49 U.S.C.
1655(c)))
[Doc. No. 19758, 45 FR 44183, June 30, 1980; 45 FR 48599, July
31, 1980, as amended by Amdt. 121-258, 61 FR 30732, June 17, 1996; 61 FR
39859, July 31, 1996; Amdt. 121-267, 62 FR 68137, Dec. 30, 1997]