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.