SPECIALIZED LABS & HANDS-ON LEARNING
BUILT FOR PRESSURE, TRAINED FOR ALTITUDE No Ordinary Lab. No Ordinary Future. Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University leads in aviation safety education, thanks to innovative facilities like the High-Altitude Lab (HAL), which trains pilots and researchers to recognize and respond to hypoxia. Caused by lowered blood oxygen levels, hypoxia can be hard to recognize and causes symptoms that include euphoria, confusion, anxiety, difficulty breathing and rapid heart rate. If left unchecked, it can result in unconsciousness and death.
Located on the Daytona Beach Campus, HAL uses a normobaric chamber that safely simulates oxygen deprivation, helping students experience real symptoms such as confusion and rapid heart rate and teaching them how to respond quickly. “We have a lot of important labs in the College of Aviation, but none more important than the HAL lab,” said Dr. Alan Stolzer, dean of Embry-Riddle’s College of Aviation. “What we do in there is nothing short of amazing, and it’s something that few other universities are able to offer.” “The primary objective of the lab is for students to experience firsthand the symptoms of hypoxia,” said Scott Wagner, an associate professor in the College of Aviation and the lab director. “Academically, all pilots are trained about hypoxia, but HAL allows them to feel those symptoms, which are not always easy to recognize.”
Hypoxia affects people differently. “Oftentimes, people don’t jump to the immediate conclusion they’re getting hypoxic, which happens inside the chamber even when they already know that is what’s going to happen,” Wagner said. “We teach them that if this were happening on the flight deck, it would be a real emergency — they have five seconds to get their oxygen masks on.” Training at the HAL not only saves lives — it provides a unique opportunity for our students, supporting research and professional development for those aspiring to careers in aviation, medicine and aerospace life sciences. The lab is also used by corporate and professional pilots, further enhancing Embry‑Riddle’s reputation for hands-on, industry-leading training.
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