415 Log IFR Instrument Currency in an FAA-Approved Simulator + Redbird Factory Tour
Aviation News Talk – Pilot Stories, Safety Tips & General Aviation News
Glass Cockpit Publishing
4.8 • 730 Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2026
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Max talks with Josh Harnagel, COO of Redbird Flight, about a practical use-case that matters to almost every instrument pilot: logging IFR instrument currency and staying proficient in an FAA-approved simulator. Josh explains why many pilots buy Redbird's FAA-approved tabletop devices specifically for currency—especially to knock out the holding requirement—and why he likes shooting an approach in the simulator before flying it in the airplane. Max shares why he does the same thing before recurrent training, because simulator reps surface the "gotchas" that can spike workload in real IFR—like autopilot behavior on LNAV+V.
Josh breaks down Redbird's product lineup, clarifies what's FAA approved versus "just a computer," and explains where Basic ATDs and Advanced ATDs fit in training. They also touch on Redbird GIFT (Guided Independent Flight Training), remote instruction possibilities, and why avionics emulation is hard (and expensive) to do with perfect fidelity.
Then the episode pivots to a Redbird factory tour: outbound shipping and crating, assembly workflow, fabrication of honeycomb aluminum shells, wiring harness and switch panel build, PCB soldering and parts inventory, completions/testing, and even the cooling/vent system inside the sim—ending with why engineering and the shop are co-located for faster iteration and better quality.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today we're talking about simulators, and here's why you should care about them. |
| 0:06.0 | Last week, we talked about the crash of an epic E-1000 at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, |
| 0:10.8 | that flew an advisory glide slope below the MDA and crashed into a mountain. |
| 0:15.7 | So if you don't understand advisory glide slopes and when you're allowed to descend below the MDA, |
| 0:22.7 | please listen to that episode at AviationNewsTalk.com slash 414. Now, if that pilot had flown that approach in a simulator |
| 0:29.0 | ahead of time, he would have known about the issues with following the approach and would have flown |
| 0:33.6 | it differently. Coincidentally, I was in Austin, Texas, the day before the accident, |
| 0:38.7 | and was lucky enough to visit the Redbird Flight Simulations factory. And in a moment, I'll be giving |
| 0:43.1 | you a tour of that factory. I was visiting with COO Josh Harnacle, and here's what he said, |
| 0:48.2 | just 12 hours before that crash. But instrument currency is honestly a big, big point on those those for sure and we have lots of folks that |
| 0:55.6 | buy them for that and shoot an approach on the sim before they go do it in the airplane as a general |
| 1:01.3 | rule like i don't shoot approaches that i haven't flown before yeah that's a great way to go every |
| 1:05.9 | year when i have to go back for my annual recurrent training in the vision jet i always go into |
| 1:09.8 | just a local aATD simulator, |
| 1:12.6 | which is somewhat generic, but I find it's really useful just to get in there and kind of |
| 1:17.5 | remember some of the funny little gotchas that you find in the instrument world. |
| 1:21.8 | Now, I mentioned that I always get some sim time before going for my vision jet annual recurrent |
| 1:26.4 | check. What I didn't mention was that I remember |
| 1:28.8 | a couple years ago when flying in the SIM ahead of time that the one big thing I took away |
| 1:33.5 | from my time in the SIM was that it reminded me that when flying an LNAV-plus V approach, |
| 1:38.6 | the autopilot would take me through the MDA. So simulator time is extremely valuable, both in getting |
| 1:43.4 | a certificate or rating and also in staying current. So simulator time is extremely valuable, both in getting a certificate or rating, |
... |
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