How to Log Simulator Time: What Counts, What Doesn't, and How to Record It

Few logbook questions come up as often as this one: I just spent four hours in a simulator — how do I log it? Pilots ask us at every course we run, and a quick search shows the confusion is industry-wide. The rules are actually clearer than most people think. The problem is that "simulator time" covers everything from a desktop trainer to a full-motion Level D machine, and the logging answer changes with the device, the purpose of the session, and who was sitting behind you.

So here is the straight version: what the FAA lets you credit, what it doesn't, and how to record simulator time so it holds up in an airline interview.

Rule one: simulator time is not flight time

Start with the distinction that settles half the arguments. Under 14 CFR 61.1, flight time begins when an aircraft moves under its own power for the purpose of flight. A simulator never leaves the building, so time in one is never flight time — it doesn't go in your total time column, it isn't pilot-in-command time, and it doesn't add to the hours you report as flight experience.

That does not make it worthless. Far from it. The FAA treats time in an approved device as training time, and training time in the right device, logged the right way, can be credited toward certificates, ratings, and recency requirements. The skill is keeping the two categories separate so both stay credible.

Know which device you were actually in

What you can credit depends almost entirely on the level of the device, so identify it before you write anything down:

• Full flight simulator (FFS) — the airline-standard machine: a full replica flight deck on a motion platform with visuals, qualified by the FAA from Level A up to Level D. A Level D full-motion simulator, like the Boeing 737-800 simulators our students train in, is the highest fidelity available — realistic enough that a type rating can be earned in one without ever flying the airplane.
• Flight training device (FTD) — a replica cockpit with accurate systems modeling but no motion platform, qualified at Levels 4 through 7.
• Aviation training device (ATD) — the basic and advanced desktop-style trainers (BATD/AATD) most pilots meet during primary and instrument training.

Every qualified device carries an FAA qualification letter stating its level. If you don't know what the machine was, ask the training provider — you'll want that detail for your logbook anyway.

What the FAA lets you credit

The logging rule for devices lives in 14 CFR 61.51(g). Two conditions do most of the work. First, to log training time in a simulator, FTD, or ATD, an authorized instructor must be present observing the session and must sign your record. Solo practice in a rented sim may be excellent preparation, but it is not creditable training time. Second, the time only counts toward a certificate, rating, or recency requirement if the device is qualified and approved for that specific use.

Applied to the requirements airline-track pilots actually care about:

• The ATP certificate. The 1,500-hour aeronautical experience requirement of 61.159 can include up to 100 hours obtained in a full flight simulator or FTD representing an airplane — but only when that time is flown as part of an approved training course, and no more than 25 of those hours may come from an FTD. This is one of the few places device time legitimately offsets airplane hours, and interviewers know the rule well.
• The ATP CTP course. The certification training program required by 61.156 before your ATP knowledge test includes 10 hours in training devices, at least six of them in a full-motion simulator of a large, multiengine turbine airplane. That time is course completion time — it earns the graduation certificate that unlocks the written, and it belongs in your training records and simulator column, not your flight time.
• Type ratings. Under an approved Part 142 curriculum, the entire practical training and checkride for a type rating can be completed in a Level C or D full flight simulator. The rating goes on your certificate without a minute of flight time changing — which is exactly why the simulator column exists.
• Instrument currency. The recent experience rules of 61.57(c) allow the required approaches, holding, and tracking tasks to be accomplished in an approved FFS, FTD, or ATD.
• Recurrent checks. Proficiency checks under 61.58, and the recurrent training airline and corporate pilots fly every cycle, are routinely completed in Level D simulators and logged as such.

How to write it down

Whether your logbook is paper or electronic, the method is the same: keep device time in its own column, and make each entry specific enough to verify. A solid simulator entry records:

• The date, the training provider, and the location
• The device type and level — "B737-800 FFS, Level D" says far more than "sim"
• The time, logged as FFS, FTD, or ATD time — never in the total flight time column
• What the session covered — engine-out work, CAT III approaches, upset recovery, LOFT scenario
• The instructor's signature and certificate number

Electronic logbooks make this easy with dedicated simulator fields — use them, and resist any setting that rolls device time into your totals. If a requirement is ever questioned, the paper trail that saves you is the instructor endorsement plus the device identification, so capture both on the day of the session, not from memory later.

The airline application question

Here is where careful logging pays off. Airline applications ask for flight time, and most carriers want simulator time reported separately or excluded from your totals entirely — even hours the FAA allowed you to credit toward the ATP. The safe practice is the conservative one: report flight time as flight time, present simulator time in its own category, and be ready to explain exactly which rule any credited hours fall under. A pilot who can point to a clean simulator column and say "100 of my 1,500 came from a full flight simulator in an approved course, per 61.159" sounds like a professional. A pilot whose totals quietly include sim time sounds like a problem — and application audits do catch it.

Make the hours worth logging

One last point, because it gets lost in the logging debate: the value of simulator time was never really the number in the column. A Level D full-motion simulator is where you can fly an engine failure at V1, a windshear escape, or a smoke-filled flight deck — profiles no one will ever demonstrate for you in an actual jet. That training is what airlines are buying when they hire you.

Every ATP CTP course and Boeing 737 type rating we run at Air Vegas Services is flown in Level D full-motion 737-800 simulators, with instructors who sign your records the day you train and staff who can answer exactly these logging questions as they come up. If you're ready to put creditable time in the right column, our upcoming class dates in Dallas–Fort Worth and Miami are open now — and if you just want to understand what the machine can do, start with our guide to full-motion simulator training.