Full flight simulator

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Full flight simulator (FFS) is a very high‑tech flight simulator used by national aviation authorities such as the FAA in the United States and EASA in Europe. There are four levels, A to D, with Level D being the highest. Level D can even provide zero flight time training when pilots switch between airliner types.

In 2012 an international group led by the RAeS Flight Simulation Group simplified 27 training device categories into seven. ICAO approved this change and published it in Doc 9625, Issue 3. The new Type 7 FFS is essentially the old Level D but with upgrades in motion, visuals, and air traffic/communications simulations.

A Level D/Type 7 simulator trains all cockpit systems that matter for training, including realistic control force feedback (control loading), avionics, communications, and glass cockpit displays. It’s used for both initial training (converting to a new aircraft type) and recurrent training (every six months) for commercial pilots flying fare-paying passengers.

The simulator uses a motion platform to provide six‑degree‑of‑freedom movement. Its visuals are based on a cross‑cockpit collimated display: the outside view is projected on a translucent screen and reflected by a curved mirror around the cockpit, giving a field of view up to about 200° horizontally and 40° vertically and a convincing sense of depth.