The sky’s the limit

One of the newest additions to Nicolet College’s White Pine building is a mock airplane cockpit, complete with accurate controls and instrument panels. While its flights may not be real, the lessons learned abord this simulator are.

“Every hour you spend in here is going to be valuable education experience when you get in a cockpit,” said Curt Drumm, Nicolet aviation instructor.

The college purchased the flight simulator as part of career pathways grant administered by the Wisconsin Technical College System. The simulator is approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for instructional use.

Up to 2.5 hours of simulator time can be counted toward the 40 hours of flight time required for a private pilot license. While that amount of time is relatively small, it can make a big difference when it comes to cost and time investments. It also gives students a leg-up and some confidence before stepping behind the controls of a real plane.

“Cockpits aren’t incredibly great classrooms, there’s so much going on and you’re in the air … but being able to sit here in an air conditioned room with a pause button and talk about doing something gives you a much more controlled environment,” Drumm said.

The flight simulator also allows instructors to customize the flight experience and put students in situations they couldn’t simulate in the air — such as practicing an emergency landing after an engine failure.

“We can control the weather on here, we can create rain, adjust visibility, fog, winds, storms,” Drumm said. “If you just wanted to practice your approach to landing you can set your approach to land and then click the button and you’re right back to the same starting place.”

The simulator was a tremendous boon to Nicolet’s private pilot ground school — a 10-week course offered in the spring that teaches students the fundamentals of flight required to earn their FAA private pilot license. The program, which completed its third year this spring, made use of the simulator to help bridge the gap before students start logging real flight hours at flight schools.

“If I would’ve gotten two to three hours in the sim before touching the airplane, it probably would’ve accelerated my timeline significantly, so it’s really exciting that we can offer that capability to our ground school students,” said Riley Zarm, former ground school student.

“Riley is a success story from our past,” Drumm said.

Zarm, a Rhinelander High School graduate, participated in Nicolet’s first ground school while attending RHS and capitalized on the dual-credit classes the college offers, receiving both high school credits and college credits from a single class. He is currently attending the University of North Dakota.

“When he graduated he had enough to knock out his entire first semester,” Drumm said. “It was a substantial financial savings and a time savings. He’ll be able to finish a bachelor’s degree in three years instead of four.”

Zarm returned to Rhinelander this summer to work as an aviation specialist with the program via the career pathways grant.

“What we’re trying to do with the programming is create a more formal pathway so that this route that I took can be replicated,” he said. “We can provide exposure to the 11 high schools in our Nicolet College service district and exposure to those individuals who otherwise may have been unfamiliar with this pathway.”

In three years, the ground school has seen 67 students pass the program, Drumm said.

“You have to be able to pass the written exam and then go out and demonstrate that you can fly an airplane to get your license,” he said.

In the process, Nicolet was also approved to be an FAA testing center for written exams. Prior to the ground school program, Drumm said, there were no FAA testing centers to take the written exams north of Highway 29.

In addition to preparing young adults for college and an aviation career, the program serves adults looking for a mid-career change or older adults exploring or reconnecting with the world of aviation.

“We’ve also had a number of retired folks that have taken classes just for the interest or some retired pilots who hadn’t flown in a bunch of years,” Drumm said.

The school isn’t just for pilots, either. While the focus is on flying, learning about how a plane works and what goes into a safe and successful flight are necessary skills for any aviation career, Drumm said.

Over 200 Wisconsin companies have ties to the state’s aerospace sector, and more than 26,000 people are employed in Wisconsin by companies that support the aviation and aerospace manufacturing sectors, according to Nicolet College. Wisconsin ranks above the national average for employment concentration in many different professions relating to aviation and aerospace. 

“Right now both pilots and mechanics are both in high demand and they’re very valuable career paths,” Drumm said.

If Zarm pursues a commercial airline pilot career, it’s likely he could live in Rhinelander and be based out of Minneapolis — commuting via revenue-free flights from Rhinelander airport to Minneapolis every day.

“It’s a small world in aviation,” Zarm said. “That’s what’s attractive about having this career — you can live in Rhinelander, you can live wherever you want and still participate in the economy as a pilot, a flight crew member or a mechanic.”

For more information on the flight simulator and Nicolet’s ground school offerings, visit nicoletcollege.edu/aviation.

Michael Strasburg may be reached at [email protected].