This is one – only ONE – of the reasons that in the US, the regulatory authority, the FAA, has a specific team of inspectors – all of whom have been properly trained on, and are thoroughly knowledgeable about, what goes into the make-up and he operation of what is called an airplane simulator. Because of the varying needs of the industry, the US FAA has defined several ‘levels’ of simulation and requires an initial evaluation and regularly conducted recurrent evaluations on each individual device, conducted by one of those FAA inspectors. Each device is evaluated and provided a statement (some call it a ‘certificate’) where the appropriately applied ‘title’ grants a specific set of authorizations, and outlines what each, specific device is authorized to do and what may be credited toward pilot (or other crewmember) qualification, proficiency check and/or rating, and, importantly, each such device is subject to regular recurrent inspection/evaluations. Of course, no process is completely ‘fool-proof’ but if everyone understands the intent and complies with the requirements, there should be little opportunity for a device to be used incorrectly … and little chance that a correctly used device that is operating incorrectly … would contribute to the diminished proficiency of the flight crew. The overall thought and intent being that if such devices are examined and tested regularly and correctly, the chances of having unqualified crewmembers in an airplane cockpit should be dramatically reduced.