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TMFSTX

Team Fastrax Bodyflight Bedford Comments

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Hello all,

I have never made a post on Dropzone.com but felt compelled to share our recent experience at the Bodyflight Bedford tunnel.

On May 16, 2006 Team Fastrax crossed the pond to visit our brothers in the United Kingdom. We had heard comments from a team that visited the Bodyflight wind tunnel; they said it was no different than the tunnels in the United States. We wanted to find out first hand so we scheduled a camp to the UK. The Bodyflight tunnel is located within an old military research compound that was built in the 50’s and used for testing aircraft spin rates, it was built to create turbulence free airflow. The perfect air!

Over four days we spent seven hours flying in what is known as the largest freefall simulator in the world. The trip started by flying non stop from Cincinnati, Ohio to Gatwick International Airport south of London. The airfare was reasonable at $663 round trip. We landed and were able to purchase and board the train for Bedford from the airport itself. The train to Bedford runs every 20 minutes, 7 days per week and cost about $50 for a round trip fare. We arrived in Bedford after a 70 minute ride through scenic London and some beautiful country side. You can stay at the Shakespeare Bed & Breakfast which is about a 5 minute walk from the train station for $75 per night; the cost includes a great English breakfast. The B&B has a nice Pub and Restaurant with free wireless available to guests. You can also choose to stay in the bunk house located at the tunnel itself. The taxi ride to the tunnel is about 7 minutes and cost around $10. I would discourage renting a car as the traffic is congested and locals drive like formula one driver’s.

When we arrived at the tunnel we were greeted by the owner Paul who lives 24-7 at the tunnel, just kidding, but it sure appears he does. We received a complete tour of the facility, were asked if we had lunch, as they would order food for us if we hadn't. At first I thought they were treating us special, but over the course of five days we found that they treated everyone special. The facility has changing rooms with lockers, a large creeping area, conference room and large reception area filled with bean bags and sofas. In the reception area there is multiple 36” plasma TV’s for debriefing your dives, if they are being used there are multiple computers for team use. Paul informed us that they were improving the sleeping quarters and adding a gym and dinning facility. Currently there is a caterer that stops by and sells sandwiches, chips, salads and desserts. The tunnel has six custom built tunnel rigs that can be used if booked with your tunnel time.

The tunnel itself is 16’2" across, perfectly round with three different camera angles, one of which is located dead center with a high resolution. The angles are the best we have seen for viewing and debriefing your dives. Another great feature is the configuration of the tunnel it allows you to exit anytime to get something to eat, drink or to relieve yourself without shutting the tunnel down.

The air itself is pure and turbulence free. During our seven hours of flight it never choked once and our levels never fluctuated. We were able to perform 2 minutes of great skydiving because the air was always dialed in. It would have taken us ten hours of tunnel time at any other tunnel in the world to accomplish the quality of training we performed in seven hours in the Bodyflight tunnel. Every part of the design is about efficiency, getting in and out is easy and there is plenty of space to dirt dive the next session.

We were able to turn every block in the Bedford tunnel. Block one was a little cheated, other than that we could perform every variation of a draw possible. The staff itself is incredible! They never missed a beat and accommodated every request we made of them. We truly felt special.

Team Fastrax recommends that any four-way team looking for the ultimate tunnel experience book time in the Bedford tunnel. If you contact us we can arrange the best rates possible and schedule coaching around our camps or dates independent of when we train. We will soon have some video of the tunnel posted on the site and will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

[email][email protected]

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V cool to hear that Fastrax have come all the way over from the US to train at Bodyflight. I expect we will see a lot more US teams over here before long, since you are also getting top notch coaches like Mark Kirkby and Gary Byers in.

Also heard you bought a great new B-B-Q especially for the tunnel campers for the upcoming camps... Will be great on the new deck! Thanks Paul.;)

TB

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