---
title: Up in the Air—Without Leaving the Ground
date: 2023-06-21T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/up-in-the-air-without-leaving-the-ground"
section: Articles
---
# Up in the Air—Without Leaving the Ground

*June 21, 2023* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> Engineering’s New Immersive Flight Simulator Will Test the Rigors of Flight for Safer Skies

*Simulator 06072023 JC 4374 1920x1080 — Writer Maggie Haslam (right) unsuccessfully flies a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter through trees, powerlines and fast food establishments at the new Extended Reality Simulation and Control Lab, while Assistant Professor Umberto Saetti and graduate student Michael Morcos assess the damage. The lab reproduces different flying conditions through motion-based VR simulation and haptics for flight research and training.*

Last week, I made an unexpected stop at the McDonald’s drive-thru in the most literal sense. As I barreled toward the parking lot, the rotors of the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter I was flying sheared the golden arches clean off the building’s façade.

No one was hurt, and I didn’t scrap a $20 million chopper in the process. The removal of my virtual reality (VR) headset transported me instantly (and with relief) to a spacious lab on the fourth floor of the IDEA Factory at the University of Maryland. But my churning stomach and frayed nerves reflected an all-too-realistic seven minutes in the cockpit, and a grim realization: Flying is hard.

This crash-and-burn scenario was enabled by the new Extended Reality Flight Simulation and Control Lab, launched by the Department of Aerospace Engineering this spring. It’s the first university-based facility in the United States to reproduce different flying conditions in various types of aircraft through motion-based VR simulation and haptics, which provide information through tactile feedback like rumbling and vibrations.

“Our objective is to increase immersion and recreate scenarios that are difficult to simulate otherwise,” said Assistant Professor Umberto Saetti, who founded and directs the lab—“and ultimately, increase flight safety.”

Saetti’s setup is about as immersive as you can get without leaving terra firma: What looks like an upscale gaming chair bolted to an elevated platform seems to magically transform once you buckle in and gear up. VR goggles conjure an empty cockpit and a full instrument panel at your virtual fingertips, with a sun-drenched tarmac just beyond. Headphones flood your ears with the roar of the engine—and in my case, the thump of the rotor blades—with the platform oscillating in response to the controls: a gentle nudge of the cyclic (or control) stick forward and my chopper comes to life, pitching me up and out over the small town beyond the airport.


*Woman wearing glasses looks at computer monitor — A full-body haptic suit uses electrical muscle stimulation to nudge a pilot to maneuver right or left in a low-visibility flight scenario.*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Aerospace Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/aerospace-engineering), [Augmented Reality / Virtual Reality](https://today.umd.edu/topic/augmented-reality-virtual-reality), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering)