Dream About the Sea, by THE AND is licensed under creative commons.
A flight training device (FTD)
is a simulator that has been authorized by the
Federal Aviation Administration for use in flight training. It is similart to a flight simulator you may run at home on your computer. The main difference is the control panel is built in to the unit.
FTD's provide the following benefits:
Very cost effective training
The ability to pause and evaluate
Can count toward instrument requirement
Train no matter how bad the weather
Practicing emergency procedures
Rehearsing difficult approaches
Practicing crosswind maneuvers
As you can see the FTD is a great resource to help you learn to fly with less expense, and pressure than the real thing. That is good because you will be maximizing your time in the real airplane instead of fooling around with things you could
have learned in the hanger.