Definition
A Basic Aviation Training Device (BATD) is a ground-based flight training device approved by the FAA that provides a training platform for at least the procedural and operational performance of the tasks required for the private pilot certificate and the instrument rating. It replicates aircraft instruments, controls, and basic flight characteristics, but to a simpler standard than an Advanced Aviation Training Device (AATD).
Plain English
A simple FAA-approved flight simulator used on the ground to practice basic flying skills and instrument procedures. It looks and behaves enough like an aircraft cockpit to count toward certain pilot training requirements, but it is the entry-level version of approved training devices.
Context Anchor
You may see this term in flight school equipment descriptions, training records, and rules about what kinds of ground training can count toward pilot requirements.
Why Pilots Care
It lets pilots complete part of their required instrument training at far lower cost than actual aircraft time while still earning official credit.
Intuition Check
“Basic” does not mean informal, toy-like, or automatically acceptable for any training credit. Here it means a lower level of approved aviation training device with specific limits on how it may be used.
Example Sentence 1
The student logged two hours in the school's Basic Aviation Training Device practicing holding patterns before flying the same procedure in the airplane.
Example Sentence 2
Before flying the approach in the airplane, she rehearsed the entire procedure in the Basic Aviation Training Device.