We were all required to be at Essendon Fields Airport very early Saturday morning, which meant most of us were up before the sun rose. There were many yawns in the car ride; however, as soon as we reached the location, everyone was ready to fly!
We had to go through multiple steps before entering the wind tunnel. The first step included an orientation session where our instructor talked us through the flying basics. We learnt what different hand signals meant, how to enter and exit the wind tunnel and what body position we need to be in when in the air.
The next step was to gear up. After the brief, we all received our flight gear. Once we had our flight suits and helmet on, we were all ready to go!
Our instructor showed us the tunnel where we all had to sit in a line. The instructor took one person at a time while everyone else watched. We took turns until everyone got to have two flights. Each flight went for roughly one minute. It didn't sound long, but as a first-time flyer, it seemed much longer during the experience.
In the wind tunnel, controlling our body in the airflow was very difficult. To achieve a stable position, we needed to arch our body by pushing forward at the hips and raising our heads and feet. On both our flights, getting used to the body position and that feeling of pressure that the airflow puts on our body was the primary goal. The wind speed was relatively low, so we flew close to the net, where our instructor could easily give us corrective signals to help us perfect our position before some of us got to move on.
Those who mastered that body position had the opportunity to fly right by our instructor's side, right to the very top of the wind tunnel.
At the end of our session, our instructor demonstrated some extraordinary skills.
What an adrenaline-filled morning this was! It is fair to say that there is no other feeling like flying in the world! Our entire experience at iFLY was one that everyone will remember for the rest of their lives.
NEXT STOP..... actual skydiving out of a plane!!! Stay tunned.
- Brooke & the onesocial team :)
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