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albatross27

Wind tunnel recommendation?

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Hi, I'm really interested in training in a wind tunnel before progressing further on my AFF. Has anyone been to the wind tunnel in New Zealand? (I'm from Australia and I don't think there is one here). Or alternatively, I want to go to the biggest and best whereever it may be around the world. What are your recommendations and how much can I expect to pay?
"Let the jumping begin!"

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The biggest (civilian) tunnel is under 'renovation' and is in Bedford, UK. It will be a smidge over 16 feet in diameter.

It is planned for opening in August from what I hear.
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Connextion: British 8 Way Team
www.bodyflight.co.uk
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Thanks guys for your info. I'd love to go to Bedford!! Do you know how many pomme (English) skydivers are in Australia? About 50% of every bloody dropzone around the Brisbane area. Just an observation...but I know it's because of the beautiful weather and blue skies in Australia that makes it the best place to skydive in the whole world.

Anyaway..thanks for your link Paige...I've been to your website and it;s fantastic...perhaps I'll meet you in your wind tunnel or in the air some day!!
"Let the jumping begin!"

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The biggest (civilian) tunnel is under 'renovation' and is in Bedford, UK



Not that I want to boast... but its also bigger than any private or military one too :P;) Other than the NASA 20ft tunnel (which can only reach speeds of 50mph ish so not fast enough to fly) there arent any science tunnels bigger either.

B|:D

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

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Anyaway..thanks for your link Paige...I've been to your website and it;s fantastic...perhaps I'll meet you in your wind tunnel or in the air some day!!



Dawn rocks and so do her sites. She's a wealth of knowledge and I'm very please to have her on board with the PMTS. Glad you liked the site, thanks for the feedback :)
Tunnel Pink Mafia Delegate
www.TunnelPinkMafia.com

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(which can only reach speeds of 50mph ish so not fast enough to fly)



Phht, not with that attitude

...
Driving is a one dimensional activity - a monkey can do it - being proud of your driving abilities is like being proud of being able to put on pants

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Arguably

[rolls up sleeves]
now that's an invitation!!
:P

let's talk dimensions
we got 170 X 50 X 20 on the tunnel structure..
and 12.8 dia X 120 ft tall air column...(of course we recommend staying under 70 feet)

ok... show me your cards...;):$:P

Pink Suits, Blue Skies & Fast Air,
Dawn Suiter PMTS #3

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let's talk dimensions
we got 170 X 50 X 20 on the tunnel structure..
and 12.8 dia X 120 ft tall air column...(of course we recommend staying under 70 feet)



Is that the best you can do?! :P

Ours is 140ft tall - 50ft diameter (tunnel structure) 16.23ft dia flight chamber x 27ft high (and thats a constant speed for all 27ft!- no cone shapes here!)

Lets not talk about motor sizes I wouldnt want to embarrass you. :o:D:P

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

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so your 30 feet shorter and have roughly 438 square feet of flyable air while AAC has 896 or so...
we can't beat the motor at our lonely 3 grand but your motor is the same size as the Houston tunnel will be.. plus they'll have all the same other dimensions we do...;)

no cone shapes here either of course!!:)
Pink Suits, Blue Skies & Fast Air,
Dawn Suiter PMTS #3

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so your 30 feet shorter and have roughly 438 cubic feet of flyable air while AAC has 896 or so...



Actually no... If I was counting building sizes... we have alot more across the floor... so if weare taking height against height our building size dwarfs yours quite a bit... and covers more sq-ft on the ground I guess too :ph34r:

And unless I am pressing the wrong buttons on my calculator (which is always possible) we have 1376 cubic feet of flyable air.

;)

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

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You can't count building size.. AAC doesn't even HAVE a building!!!!! I was counting TUNNEL structure.. I could count the 4 story castle next to the tunnel but that wouldn't count!!!!! I'm talking tunnel for tunnel..

your probably NOT calculating wrong..
but 12.8 X 120 is more than 16.23 X 27, no?
(still being very friendly here :)
Edited to add: even if we only calculate 12.8 X the 70 feet which we use often.. that is still more area..
adding the building next to the tunnel would add about 10 thousand square feet to the facility.. but I'm only talkin about the "guts" of the tunnel..

but I whole-heartedly of course surrender on diameter.. that without a doubt you will have beat for a long time... until we make our first eliptical...:)

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but 12.8 X 120 is more than 16.23 X 27, no?



It is indeed.... but I would need a little convincing that you could fly far left of the diameter 70ft up in the same way that you could at say 10ft up. I am sure there must be dissipation alot as you go alot higher....

I dont dispute that you can rocket up to 70ft and play around but not really all usable space up there I doubt.

also as the air dissipates higher so must the windspeed. so not a consistant fall rate throughout the 120ft!

And you know me Dawn - love healthy banter and always friendly ;):D

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

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Lets not talk about motor sizes I wouldnt want to embarrass you. :o:D:P



no.. can we?
if we took the L1 up to 16.23 feet we would need at least 4.5K horsepower.. preferrable 5 so that we wouldn't get so close to max efficiency

how do you get off with such a small motor?? the recirculating factor must apply here in a major way... huh?

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if we took the L1 up to 16.23 feet we would need at least 4.5K horsepower



And if we made our tunnel 30ft wide we would need a bigger motor too :D:P;)

Recirculating does make a difference - but we only use the size motor we need to... which incidently is bigger than yours:D:P

We use as much power for our chillers as most do for their drive!:o Beat that!

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

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but I would need a little convincing that you could fly far left of the diameter 70ft up in the same way that you could at say 10ft up. I am sure there must be dissipation alot as you go alot higher....



ok.. here ya go.. this is certainly upwards of 50 feet as they are above the top of the roof observation deck.. this is regular.. and these guys with john have less than a couple hours in here at this time..

and the only dissapation of the air column here would be due to cross wind gusts.. otherwise to 70 feet at least it is still 12.8 feet and whatever speed it is at 10 feet.

We are going to get a crane so we can see what's above the 70 foot mark or so.. but the model performance has been right on so far.. so we're confident.


and a few more photo proofs..
http://www.verticalwind.com/ben_1.htmlTHE BEST ONE
http://www.verticalwind.com/9-04_d.html FARILY AWESOME VIEW FROM 60 feet or so
http://www.verticalwind.com/long_stack.html Using every spot we can!:)

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We are going to get a crane so we can see what's above the 70 foot mark or so..



Awww for shame.... if only our tunnel was by the side of yours.... we could let you stand on the top of our motor room and swing down to measure that high... :D

Ok Ok ... enough playing lets just end here with the basic agreement that Bedford is best:P

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

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Ok Ok ... enough playing lets just end here with the basic agreement that Bedford is best:P



well.. we'll soon find out won't we... other than the fact that you can't actually fly in it yet.. you maybe right it might be best.... until Houston is done anyway.. multi levels:o:o on the same air column??.. no one will ever beat that!:P

you probably also have BIG noise to go along with that BIG motor huh???

(YES you budding engineers out there.. that is a direct challenge):)
B|

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other than the fact that you can't actually fly in it yet



I am not so sure about that! - I reckon I could manage at lease 2 seconds of freefall before the pain started.:S

But hey - motor arrives on Weds... so not really so long to see!

Bodyflight Bedford
www.bodyflight.co.uk

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LOL!!!!!!!
That was hilarious..!! And yes.. you maybe right.. 2 second delay.. now that's not bad!!! Who said you can't freefall in a tunnel (wait.. that might've been me!!):P

Anyway.. sorry about the noise comment.. I know that's a cheap shot... no one could ever be as quiet as we are while flyin!!B|B|B|

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I still don't get the multi level thing. If a 4 way is swinging pieces in the lower lever the burble that it has to cause even 10 feet up is too large to have someone else flying or else they would crash every time. Its hard enough in the sky to swing above a RW group with out crashing in on them, I can't imagine being in the upper layer of the tunnel and having my air get stolen all the time by another group. And to think about putting a 4 way group in the upper layer does'nt make any sence since the windspeeds to keep them happy are not near fast enough to keep everyone else happy too.
Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

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