“Redding tower, 1913 Hotel, ready to go, three four at alpha,” Dave Marshall said into the radio. He’s the advisor for the school’s aviation club, taking off in a test flight from the Redding airport.
“Number 1913 Hotel, Redding tower,” ground control responded. “Wind three two zero at niner gust one six. Make left down departure. Runway three four cleared for takeoff.”
The propeller spun, vibrating the pilot's seat. Marshall makes his final checks before taxing onto the runway, pulling out the throttle and speeding down the runway for a smooth takeoff.
Only, he wasn’t in Redding, and this wasn’t a real plane. He was sitting inside a flight simulator, designed to recreate the cockpit of a Cessna 182.
From the pilot’s seats, there’s a 180-degree view of a low-resolution mockup of the airport, complete with fuel trucks that drive around the tarmac.
Aviation isn’t as big as it used to be in Humboldt County, Marshall said. There are only around 50 pilots in the area, and the company that used to train pilots shut down a few years ago.
Marshall and a small group of enthusiasts are trying to revive the region’s aviation industry.
“Several of the air ambulance pilots got their primary instruction here,” he said. “Several of the people that fly the Cal Fire air attack or water bombers got their instruction here. That's no longer available, so that opportunity loss is going to be seen over the next 20 years.”
The aviation club received this simulator as a donation around a year ago, replacing a more primitive one built by a PC gaming club on campus. The new simulator is certified by the Federal Aviation Administration, so users can log hours toward their pilot’s licenses.
It now sits on the second floor of the Cal Poly Humboldt Library, where it’s just one of the experiences at the Hall of Simulation.
Library Dean Cyril Oberlander said he wants the library to inspire everyone, not just students.
“Wikipedia taught libraries that knowledge can be co-created by everyone, and as a result, everyone benefits. Everyone's engaged in it in a way,” he said. “That really has served communities very well.”
The Hall of Simulation was created to centralize a number of different exhibits that the library had been collecting for years.
“All of these experiences, all these projects suggest that there's a really wonderful way to encourage the community to try these ideas out,” Oberlander said. “Learn how to fly a plane, learn about the human body, or learn about plants using emergent technology.”
Tricking your brain
Student docent Diego Rodriguez-Willie helps people discover the simulators. His favorite is the emergency table: a large sandbox with a projected map of Arcata and the surrounding forest. When Rodriguez-Willie shines a laser on a spot in the forest, a wildfire begins to spread.
“We're expecting to see fire pretty much nearly one-to-one how you would expect fire to behave in reality if you were to set it here with some caveats,” Rodriguez-Willie said.
He said this table isn’t just for playing around. Users can assign simulated crews to fight the fire, practicing strategies to contain a wildfire all over the world. Using the simulation, firefighters and emergency managers can learn from virtual mistakes — instead of real ones.
These simulators are meant to provide an experience that can help trick your brain into thinking you’re doing something for real.
Brandon Brown, a flight instructor new to the area, said the immersive experience makes learning faster.
“For my student, who has only flown out of the simulator, she doesn't have that frame of reference, and her hands sweat, she holds on tight,” he said. “She said this several times, it is indistinguishable when you're in the moment from actually flying.”
But Rodriguez-Willie said people might not know how they can use tools like this if they aren’t studying wildfire or medicine or aviation.
“Many would be willing to actually come up here,” he said, “if there was more information regarding some of the more tangible features or applications that they would benefit from.”
“Someone last year who was pregnant wanted to see the whole birthing practice as it was simulated in the table,”
For example, the emergency table could be used to simulate evacuation routes, helping residents prepare for a wildfire.
Oberlander said the library’s 3D dissection table, which shows full-body scans of human cadavers or other animals, also has uses beyond being a tool for nursing students.
“Someone last year who was pregnant wanted to see the whole birthing practice as it was simulated in the table,” he said.
Another person, Oberlander said, wanted to know how their damaged knee tendon looked. “When I was able to show her the tendon, she felt very transformed and empowered by the knowledge that she now understood what it was that was damaged in her knee.”
Inspiring the community
The library is planning workshops this summer to teach people how they can use these simulators. Oberlander said the simulators can be especially valuable for kids, who might get inspired to pursue a passion later in their lives.
Nick Dedini, a middle school science teacher in Arcata, said some students and families have visited the space on their own.
“I do know a student who used the flight simulator pretty regularly there and then applied to a school in Arizona out of high school and is now attending a flight school college in Arizona to get his pilot's license,” Dedini said. “And I know he spent a lot of time at that flight simulator, and that was good for him.”
Teachers have been learning about this hall of simulation through visits to the college campus every year. Dave Haller, another science teacher in the area, said teachers now know more about what’s available at the hall.
“The first few years, it was more just trying to introduce it to us, and it was new to most of the teachers, too,” Haller said. “Now, we can think of ways that we could incorporate that into units or projects and have the kids maybe do some deeper experimenting.”
The flight simulator is by far the most popular attraction in this exhibit. Community members used the simulator 105 times last semester, Oberlander said. Marshall said around 1,300 hours were logged in the first six months of use, which he said is a lot of use in the aviation world.
Shukri Iman is one such community member. She’s a traveling ultrasound technologist and just started her flight training a few months ago.
“It's an amazing, amazing resource,” she said. “I'm surprised that more people don't take advantage of it, because it's open to students and also the public, you know?”
Oberlander said he hopes that kind of excitement spreads to the entire Hall of Simulation. The library plans to offer extended hours with student guides available to help kids and families.
His next project is an immersive tunnel to show 360-degree footage of nearby natural areas, highlighting the research students are doing there.
