![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Indoor Skydiving - SkyVenture NH
Feb. 23rd, 2011 09:09 amI've been meaning to write up a detailed post about indoor skydiving for months. Really years but it's only been months since I posted about skydiving and meant to follow up. But today's Boston Groupon.com deal (15 hours left!) is for SkyVenture New Hampshire. $55 for a 4-minute flight. Usually, $55 would buy you the intro 2 minutes.
When my boyfriend and I went, we signed all the paperwork saying we were in good health, acknowledging there were still risks, and promising we wouldn't sue. Then we waited in the visitor viewing area until it was our turn to start the classroom part. There were chairs set up by a round room with glass walls. A wire mesh grate formed the floor of that flight chamber room. Below that was a powerful fan blowing air up, providing the air currents that would keep people aloft. As we watched, people stretched out into a spread-eagled pose and just floated there while an instructor adjusted their positions here and there. We watched them drift up and down maybe five to ten feet. Not a whole lot of movement. The funny thing was that the people still had those funny skydiving cheeks that look like cartoon chipmunk cheeks, jowls flapping around. Sometimes people would fall down to the floor of the room and they just gently bounced up off the floor or sometimes even just floated down there until the instructor repositioned them. When the students were done, then the instructor would step into the flight chamber alone and show off, zipping way up into the top of the tunnel and then plummeting to the floor, stopping just inches from the bottom. He'd do flips and tricks like running around in circles on the walls. One skydiving friend said that the instructors had incredible control when they were flying and could make all kinds of precise movements. Here's an example video I found of one of these showing off sessions.
Now it was our turn for the classroom. Quick instructions about what would happen, what hand signals they would use. The instructors are standing right next to you but as with real skydivings, it's really loud and hard to hear. We each got on a table and practiced responding to hand signals. Arch your back. Spread your arms and legs. Head up. Then it was time to don flight suits, ear plugs, helmets, and goggles. Once dressed, we filed into the holding pen where you sit on benches and wait. When it's your turn to fly, you step up to the doorway, fold your arms into your chest with your fists tucked under your chin, and then lean forward into the chamber. Once you feel the column of air catch and lift you, extend your arms and legs and arch your back until you're in the classic, spread-eagled freefall position.
Having gone skydiving twice before, I had secretly envisioned settling quickly into a stable position and then experimenting with subtly changing my hand and foot positions and sending myself into all kinds of neat spins and flips. Instead, I was startled by how challenging it was just to keep myself aloft and stable. You know how when you're playing a race car arcade game and it seems like the slightest turn of the wheel sends your car veering off to the side? It was like that except I didn't know which way my body was going to go with each shift of my arms and legs. About the most I managed to do intentionally was to gently shift my hands and pop myself up and down vertically a few feet at a time. The instructor paced around, waving his arms above, below and around you to adjust the air flow around you and help keep you aloft and in a stable position. He could also grab us by these fabric handles to haul us around if needed. If you buy the intro 2-minute package, they have you fly for 1 minute, go sit down, and then come back for your second minute. B and I had signed up for 10 minutes split between the two of us and they further split the time up so we each several shorter flights in the chamber. It was nice that way since each time you gained a little more control and comfort with floating on air.
We saw that they were adjusting the speed of the airflow as you entered to customize it to your weight and experience. There was a minimum weight for kids as well as a maximum weight of 250 pounds. Weren't allowed to be pregnant, wear a hard cast, or have ever dislocated your shoulder. Oh and the web page says you can't be drunk or under the influence of any other drugs either.
At the end of each student's time in the wind tunnel, they'll grab hold of the handles on your flight suit and take you for a spin, literally as you do horizontal spins and go whipping up and down at speeds fast enough to give you that sinking falling feeling.
We have one skydiving friend who would drive up from New York City to practice in the wind tunnel with his skydiving team. Here, they're practicing holding and shifting a formation. In this video you can see what they were practicing at about 0:27 and then it shows it done in the sky. They would book an hour at a time. Gives them lots of freefall time to practice their moves and easier than repacking their chutes and heading back in a plane over and over again.
Indoor skydiving lets you experience the wonder of flying without the fear of falling to your death. I encourage all of you who live within driving distance to come try this. They have these wind tunnels all over the country so you can still go to one even if you don't get this particular deal price.
More links (same as yesterday's batch):
Indoor Skydiving at SkyVentureNH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tjiUl5ZboA
you can see how high up you can go inside the flight chamber. Most of your time is spent within 10-12 feet of the 'floor' though...within sight of the glass walls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4pmByNvEUg
This looks pretty typical. You lean into the chamber and the instructor positions your arms and legs to get you into the horizontal flying position. At 2:42 the instructor brings one person to the floor and reviews how the arms and legs should be held. At 5:30 the instructor grabs hold of the person's suit and takes you on up and down. And then at 7:35 the instructor shows off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX0eWscHCjw
Adaptive skydiving!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krxXxkkBOTQ
looks like more experienced skydivers getting some instruction
When my boyfriend and I went, we signed all the paperwork saying we were in good health, acknowledging there were still risks, and promising we wouldn't sue. Then we waited in the visitor viewing area until it was our turn to start the classroom part. There were chairs set up by a round room with glass walls. A wire mesh grate formed the floor of that flight chamber room. Below that was a powerful fan blowing air up, providing the air currents that would keep people aloft. As we watched, people stretched out into a spread-eagled pose and just floated there while an instructor adjusted their positions here and there. We watched them drift up and down maybe five to ten feet. Not a whole lot of movement. The funny thing was that the people still had those funny skydiving cheeks that look like cartoon chipmunk cheeks, jowls flapping around. Sometimes people would fall down to the floor of the room and they just gently bounced up off the floor or sometimes even just floated down there until the instructor repositioned them. When the students were done, then the instructor would step into the flight chamber alone and show off, zipping way up into the top of the tunnel and then plummeting to the floor, stopping just inches from the bottom. He'd do flips and tricks like running around in circles on the walls. One skydiving friend said that the instructors had incredible control when they were flying and could make all kinds of precise movements. Here's an example video I found of one of these showing off sessions.Now it was our turn for the classroom. Quick instructions about what would happen, what hand signals they would use. The instructors are standing right next to you but as with real skydivings, it's really loud and hard to hear. We each got on a table and practiced responding to hand signals. Arch your back. Spread your arms and legs. Head up. Then it was time to don flight suits, ear plugs, helmets, and goggles. Once dressed, we filed into the holding pen where you sit on benches and wait. When it's your turn to fly, you step up to the doorway, fold your arms into your chest with your fists tucked under your chin, and then lean forward into the chamber. Once you feel the column of air catch and lift you, extend your arms and legs and arch your back until you're in the classic, spread-eagled freefall position.
Having gone skydiving twice before, I had secretly envisioned settling quickly into a stable position and then experimenting with subtly changing my hand and foot positions and sending myself into all kinds of neat spins and flips. Instead, I was startled by how challenging it was just to keep myself aloft and stable. You know how when you're playing a race car arcade game and it seems like the slightest turn of the wheel sends your car veering off to the side? It was like that except I didn't know which way my body was going to go with each shift of my arms and legs. About the most I managed to do intentionally was to gently shift my hands and pop myself up and down vertically a few feet at a time. The instructor paced around, waving his arms above, below and around you to adjust the air flow around you and help keep you aloft and in a stable position. He could also grab us by these fabric handles to haul us around if needed. If you buy the intro 2-minute package, they have you fly for 1 minute, go sit down, and then come back for your second minute. B and I had signed up for 10 minutes split between the two of us and they further split the time up so we each several shorter flights in the chamber. It was nice that way since each time you gained a little more control and comfort with floating on air.
We saw that they were adjusting the speed of the airflow as you entered to customize it to your weight and experience. There was a minimum weight for kids as well as a maximum weight of 250 pounds. Weren't allowed to be pregnant, wear a hard cast, or have ever dislocated your shoulder. Oh and the web page says you can't be drunk or under the influence of any other drugs either.
At the end of each student's time in the wind tunnel, they'll grab hold of the handles on your flight suit and take you for a spin, literally as you do horizontal spins and go whipping up and down at speeds fast enough to give you that sinking falling feeling. We have one skydiving friend who would drive up from New York City to practice in the wind tunnel with his skydiving team. Here, they're practicing holding and shifting a formation. In this video you can see what they were practicing at about 0:27 and then it shows it done in the sky. They would book an hour at a time. Gives them lots of freefall time to practice their moves and easier than repacking their chutes and heading back in a plane over and over again.Indoor skydiving lets you experience the wonder of flying without the fear of falling to your death. I encourage all of you who live within driving distance to come try this. They have these wind tunnels all over the country so you can still go to one even if you don't get this particular deal price.
More links (same as yesterday's batch):
Indoor Skydiving at SkyVentureNH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tjiUl5ZboA
you can see how high up you can go inside the flight chamber. Most of your time is spent within 10-12 feet of the 'floor' though...within sight of the glass walls.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4pmByNvEUg
This looks pretty typical. You lean into the chamber and the instructor positions your arms and legs to get you into the horizontal flying position. At 2:42 the instructor brings one person to the floor and reviews how the arms and legs should be held. At 5:30 the instructor grabs hold of the person's suit and takes you on up and down. And then at 7:35 the instructor shows off.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX0eWscHCjw
Adaptive skydiving!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krxXxkkBOTQ
looks like more experienced skydivers getting some instruction
Or at least I thought the higher altitude was great until I got to the doorway. Standing in the open doorway of the plane, with nothing separating me from the air and the oh-so-far-away ground, I suddenly remembered that 14,000 feet up was a very long distance. I remembered that I hated falling and this was a lot of falling. I stood there, petrified. I think our instructions had been to get up to the doorway, count to three, and then jump, back arched with arms and legs spread. I got as far as getting to the doorway and counting to three over and over again. I'm guessing they're used to that. The instructor I was strapped to waited a moment, and then just stepped out, taking me with him. 
