Indoor Skydiving Presents Freefall Experience

Those wanting to experience the effects of freefall while skydiving, but hold onto a fear of jumping from an airplane, can experience the sensation with indoor skydiving sessions. Typically lasting about three minutes, the customer can climb into a vertical windtunnel and find out what all the fuss is about without having to leave the security of a flying aircraft.

Many use indoor skydiving centers as a step in training for the real thing, learning how to maneuver during freefall and what to expect with the wind rushing at them. The only reality missing with indoor skydiving is the sudden change of direction they experience when they leave the aircraft and start falling towards the ground. Sport skydivers, clubs, groups and military practice can be accomplished in the vertical wind tunnels without the additional expense of all the equipment and the airplane rental.

While no parachutes are deployed, it is the freefall that gives most people their fear of the first jump and indoor skydiving can help prepare them mentally for the experience. In a tunnel of wind approximately 12-feet wide and about 12-feet high, learning the right horizontal position to slow the fall speed and how to become oriented with the ground can be learned without the fear of freezing during the fall and forgetting to deploy the parachute.

Learning Acrobatics Without Added Pressure

Many teams just learning to perform stunts in the air, such as joining hands and trading equipment during freefall can be done during indoor skydiving without the constant fear of forgetting to check the altimeter. Even with audible notification that it is time to open the canopy, some may overreact during the first few times of attempting to join a group in the air and if the chute is deployed without proper separation, disaster can result.

Others view indoor skydiving is a new sport and, while they may never consider actually jumping from a plane or a building, also known as base jumping, they enjoy the feeling they get inside a vertical wind tunnel. Most can create winds of 120 miles per hour, simulating the thrill of freefall.

While time in the tunnel may vary, typically lasting about three minutes, there is an instructional period lasting about 30 minutes and another 15 to 20 minutes to put on the protective clothing before the indoor skydiving fans are turned on, lifting the person into freefall flight, the closest they will probably get to soaring like a bird.

Research On Skydiving Adds To Sports’ Safety

Since before parachuting became a public sport in the 1950s, research on skydiving had been done to determine the size of the canopy, the length of the cords and at what altitude a person could safely jump. Most jumpers agree that every time a person completes a successful jump, there is more to add to the research on skydiving, which can added to the diary of the current highest jump on record.

In 1960. taking part in a Air Force experiment ad jumper used a hot air balloon, riding in the gondola to a height of 102,800 feet in around 90 minutes. Wearing a pressure suit he jumped from the gondola, and completed the near 20-mile descent in just over four and a half minutes. The research on skydiving shows that with the thinner are at the higher altitude, he had reached speeds of up to 700 miles per hour during the descent. This record, held by Captain Joe Kittinger, still stands.

Some people seem to have a need to find out how much a body can endure when conducting research on skydiving, and there are numerous records set during their attempts to be the best in the sport. The number of parachute descents in a single day stand at 640 and the lifetime record number of jumps by one person stands at over 36,000. Still, research on skydiving continues to find better materials and evacuation equipment to help pilots coming under mechanical problems.

Better Equipment Results From Research

Some contend that research on skydiving supports a theory that a jump from outer space is possible, but critics point out that re-entering the atmosphere at orbital speed would cause a brief fireball, eliminating the person making the attempt. Still, there has been many improvements made to equipment as a result of all the research on skydiving.

The altimeter is the connecting force of a jumper with their height from the ground. Many mechanical units fail if they are turned upside down. New types are capable of accurate readings, regardless of the position in which they are read. Other innovations as a result of research on skydiving, is the shape of the parachute. Some shaped like wings, allow the jumper to achieve horizontal direction during their descent, as well as coming to a near stop prior to putting their feet on the ground. It is this type of research on skydiving that is making the sport more attractive to a wider range of people.