Wind tunnels?

[Michele 1]

I was wondering about wind tunnels on the West Coast. There is one in Vegas, and I e-mailed them for information a week ago, but have had no reply from them.
I was just curious - I want to do some wind tunnel stuff when the wallet allows (and once graduated from AFF), but I don't know where to go.
Any hints, suggestons?
ciel bleu -
Michele

[allrightscud 0]

I went to the one in Las Vegas when I was on holiday. I couldn't jump at the DZ there because of floods, all the way from the UK to the middle of the desert and I couldn't jump because of floods, nightmare.
Anyway, I thought I give it a try. It was mostly tourist who were flying at it and the instructors were non-skydivers. It was a nice distraction, but because of the baggy suit and the heat it was very uncomfortable. The actual flying was fun, but very hard work, the body position was slightly different and my stomach muscles were aching when I came out, I also thought it was pretty expensive for what you got, a couple of minutes in a class of 6. 6 people for 15 minutes.
I would give it a go for a laugh otherwise I would save my money, unless you have a specific problem which you or your instructor thinks needs to be sorted out in a wind tunnel.
S'later scud.

[Zennie 0]

Hrm. I spent a lot of time in the Vegas tunnel while I was still on student status and I think it was some of the best money I've spent. I purchased 5 coached sessions and 5 regular sessions.
Yes, there are some whuffos, but when I was there there were a fair number of "regular" skydivers (two of whom had over 700 jumps) who were there to hone their skills.
When I went to Vegas I had a bad chipping problem. When I got back I sailed through my student progression. It made that dramatic of a difference for me.
I don't know which staff scud encountered, but most of the staff that I met were skydivers at the Gravity Zone (SD Las Vegas gets very bad reviews from regular skydivers).
If you have the chance to do it I totaly recommend it. Especially at the early stages of your skydiving career.
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[DickMcMahon 0]

Michele:
From what everyone has told me, the wind tunnel
in Orlando is the best one. I just got back from
spending a weekend there with some championship RW
divers who go there often. (No, I'm not one of them.
I'm a rookie.) It was hot there, and the tunnel is
very noisy ... but the experience is great. My biggest
problem was getting out of it everytime my 2-minute
lesson ended. I'd head for the door, reach out for it,
then slid backwards ... or, I'd lose my arch and hit the
door too high. Anyway, it was fun, but expensive.
Dick
http://www.dickmcmahon.com

[skymedic 0]

I would highly recomend tunnel time to people. But I think if people get too much time in the tunnel with out actualy riding the "hill" then you tend to get over confident. I have scene some AFF students with a half hour in the tunnel and then when it comes to AFF they fail multiple levels.
The tunnel misses out on those 3 important parts of a skydive, EXIT, OPENING, and last but not least LANDING.
all three of these parts can make someones stability go out the door because they worry too much about all this stuff and not on there arch....
marc

[matttrudeau 0]

How ya doing? I haven't been in a windtunnel yet but I will be going this month. July 23 to July 28. I'm going on vacation in Las Vegas and I plan on visiting the wind tunnel. I think its going to be a great place to learn stability and maybe even a few tricks. I'm doing it so I can feel comfortable in free fall and that's it. As you know, there are many other parts to a skydive that should not be overlooked.

[Zennie 0]

matt - If you do the tunnel in Vegas, get Ray as your coach. He helped me out immensely. And tell him Zennie sez "Hi".
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Blue Skies!
Zennie

[Michele 1]

Mornig, all of you
Thanks for the opinions. I think I will go ahead and get some tunnel time. I don't have a problem with my arch (in a recent photo you can see the sky between my back and the chute at about 7500 feet, and I averaged 166 feet per second according to the math and timing of the vid), so I will be going to have more experience in the freefall time. In my last video, I saw some "rocking" (chipping?) but I didn't feel it at all. I do have a little problem with my arm position in freefall (they're a tad stretched out). Though the last time up was the first time I had been without someone touching me, I still want to nip any problems in the proverbial bud.
About the "hill": can someone explain that to me more thoroughly? Again, thanks for all of your suggestions and responses.
ciel bleu -
Michele

[PhillyKev 0]

The hill is the time immediately after you exit the plane. When you first exit you are actually travelling in the air the same direction as the plane (and the relative wind is coming from that direction) as your forward speed decreases and gravity causes your downward speed to increase you are in a transission known as "the hill". If you have a perfect exit, present your front to the relative wind (direction of travel) and have a great arch, the point where you're belly down and falling straight down the "elevator shaft" you're off the hill.
cielos azules y cerveza fría
-Kevin

[chicagoskydiver 0]

There's a wind tunnel currently under construction at Skydive Illinois, due to be completed late this year, which is supposed to be bigger and better than the one in Orlando. It will be large enough to accomodate four ways, and they say powerful enough for freeflying as well. As a matter of fact, they will be holding some four way competitions in it. It will also have a large creeper pad. There is a website for it...www.virtualfreefall.com. Check it out!
Hackey