Definition
Time spent receiving flight instruction from an authorized instructor in an aircraft, flight simulator, or flight training device, logged toward the experience requirements for a pilot certificate or rating.
Plain English
The hours a student spends learning to fly with an instructor present, whether in an actual aircraft or in an approved training device, that count toward earning a certificate or rating.
Context Anchor
Seen in a training syllabus when lessons are divided into ground training, flight lessons, and estimated time requirements.
Why Pilots Care
Only properly documented flight training time fulfills the minimum hour requirements for certificates such as the private pilot certificate.
Intuition Check
Do not read this as just any time connected with flight training. In this syllabus context, it means the flight-lesson portion of training time, separate from ground study or classroom instruction.
Example Sentence 1
The syllabus allocates twenty hours of flight training time before the first solo.
Example Sentence 2
The syllabus allocates forty hours of flight training time across all dual and solo lessons before the checkride.