While I was at ERAU for my wife Genevieve’s Memorial I had the chance to tour some of the AI/Virtual Reality laboratories that where students learn all aspects of flying and aircraft maintenance. Bill Thompson from ERAU coordinated the tour as he often does on my annual trips to their Daytona Beach campus.
A special shout-out to Leah Luling and Alexa Bagomolny of the Spatial Disorientation Lab for the detailed tour and allowing me to sit in the “pilot’s seat,” although the system was not activated it was fun to pretend. Apparently, a student would sit in the cockpit seat, wearing VR googles and the system would attempt to disorient them as might happen in real life. The students job then is to leverage the controls and training they receive to re-orient themselves, all under the protection of virtual reality.
