There are three main categories of simulators with respect to FAA certification:
Full Flight Simulators must have a motion system and accurately reflect a specific aircraft with high fidelity. The Level C and Level D are the simulator subcategories most used most often in airline training. They cost $8 million to over $20 million per unit.
Flight Training Devices are high fidelity systems that are primarily used for procedural or instrument training. They do not require full motion systems. Most subcategories of FTDs are aircraft-specific.
Aviation Training Devices are used primarily for pilot proficiency and instrument training. They are in subcategories: Basic ATC and Advanced ATD. High-end home flight simulators, particularly those with realistic flight controls, instrument displays, and accurate flight dynamics, are often able to meet the AATD standards with proper setup and FAA certification.
For this simulator, I have not pursued obtaining FAA certification for use as an AATD. If this was done, it would be possible to log up to 20 hours of the required instrument training time for an Instrument Rating, up to 50 hours of flight experience for a commercial pilot certificate, as well as logging procedures for instrument currency.
Obtaining FAA certification as a FTD for this simulator would be theoretically possible, as Flight Deck Solutions does offer complete FTD training devices based upon their flight deck hardware. However, this would likely require significant upgrades to some of the hardware components, compliance with use of certain software applications, etc.
