Indoor Skydiving Research

O&A research hit a new high as Chief Adventure Officer Robert Geller and Director of Adventure Barbara Voglewede donned flight suits and entered the vertical wind chamber of iFly!

Generating winds up to 130 mph, the chamber’s twin turbines simulate the “free fall” stage of skydiving, before the diver opens her/his parachute. Once inside the chamber, experienced divers can plunge up and down in a 20-foot span, hover, spin, and walk backwards, spiderman-like, up the wall.

Researchers Barbara and Robert, as newbies, got an introductory lesson on hand signals, body positioning, and simple maneuvers before entering the plexiglass chamber.

First, we fully suited up with flight suit, goggles, earplugs, and helmets, then entered an antechamber with the other divers. There, the roar of the wind is equal to a F2 tornado on the Fujita scale, so it vibrates through you, even in the antechamber. One by one, each of us then took turns on “dives” of 2 minutes – which translates to almost triple the actual 45-second free fall time skydivers normally have in the open sky. A highly trained instructor was in the chamber with each of us, to make sure our body positioning was correct, coach us on simple maneuvers with hand signals, and physically redirect our movement if need be. Each of our last dives included tandem tricks with the instructor. He grabbed each of us and took us for a high velocity dance, spinning in a circle while we plunged up and down. OMG.  What an amazing feeling!

Not to leave us without a final bit of fun, at the end of our session our instructor gave us a solo show, playfully swooping up and down inside the tube, flying around while holding different postures, somersaulting, and dancing around on the walls, upside down.

Sound like a good O&A adventure?  We think so!  Stay tuned for news on our group indoor skydiving event!