Indoor Skydiving For Fun And Training

Friday, 27 November 2009, 13:59 | Category : Sculpture
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Vertical wind tunnels give people the ability to fly on air without the need for parachutes or airplanes. The force of wind that’s generated vertically is all that is required to get the skydiving experience. The wind inside the tunnels generally moves upward at one hundred twenty mph, which is also the same terminal velocity as a falling human body. VWTs are usually labeled for use as an indoor skydiving technique because of their popularity with skydivers. They say the sensation they get is very similar to actually parachute jumping, because the person floats in midair inside the wind tunnel, and is also called a body flight.

The history of skydiving indoors dates back to 1964, when the U.S. military started building vertical wind tunnels to enhance army parachute training of their soldiers. The first VWTs for use by the general public opened in 1982 in Las Vegas and Tennessee. Though these tunnels were lots of fun, they only approximated how the true free-fall parachute jumps actually felt, and were pretty difficult to master.

A lot of skydiving skills can be learned and practiced using vertical wind tunnels. Many skydivers like to use this as practice tool so that they can become more adept at controlling their bodies while falling from great heights. Floating your body can be done by decreasing and increasing your body’s drag by using your arms and legs as rudders for motion control. You can see why they call it indoor skydiving.

Indoor vertical wind tunnels have two sub-categories: non-re-circulating and re-circulating. Non-re-circulating wind tunnels typically suck air through inlets found in the bottom portion of the building in which they are housed. The air is then pushed up the body flight area, and then exits through the top portion of the structure. The re-circulating type of VWT creates an aerodynamic loop that has turning vanes, which are similar to wind tunnels used in labs, but have a vertical loop and a body flight chamber inside the vertical section of the loop. Re-circulating tunnels are generally used in places where the climate is just too cold to use the non-re-circulating type. Indoor vertical wind tunnels tend to have a smoother and more controlled airflow than outdoor VWTs. They also have much more control of the temperature inside, providing year-round body flights in cold climates.

For competitive skydivers, indoor skydiving is a critical training element because it gives them the ability to train for hours. Before VWTs, many were only getting about ten minutes of real skydiving practice per day. Vertical wind tunnels have taken the sport to a height never seen before and can be the ultimate skydiving equipment for gaining that competitive edge.

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