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leandercool

What a valuable tool the tunnel is!

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I gotta tell you folks, it's a terrific way to work on your stability and control and it will do wonders for your confidence!
Being a newbie and getting this opportunity very early on in my AFF training, I can say that it should be a requirement, not just a possibility.
Now, I'm aware that not everyone lives near a good wind-tunnel. But do yourself a great favor if you're just starting out, do it! Make the effort if at all possible, and get a coach who'll laugh with you as well as be serious and teach you. The experience will speak for itself. ;)

Word of advice. If you going to any wind tunnels, do some research and ask around for recommendations of specific coaches. And more importantly, have a goal of what you want to improve. Tunnel time is expensive so go in with a clear understand of your goals and let your coach know. A good coach will work out a tentative plan so you can meet your goals and a back up plan if they see you are frustrated.

I like the tunnel because it's cheaper per minute than skydiving and you get immediate feedback from your instructor. If you're messing up they can either demonstrate what you're doing wrong, then show you how to fix it, or walk in and physically move your body into the correct position.

Let me know what you think about this!
From 0 to 12.000 in 9 minutes

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It is a great tool, even though it's cheaper per minute than skydiving, it's just all upfront instead over a long time frame. I myself have 3 hours of tunnel time with a little over a 100 jumps and it has helped me tremedously. The tunnel is about a 3 hour flight from me. I always recommend people going to the tunnel if they can

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I have about 30 min in the denver tunnel and loved every second of it. And now that its cold here I plan on racking up some time this winter.

for a noob, when you can finally control yourself on all three axis and hover in the center, its just an awesome feeling. I do need to look into getting coaching sessoins soon though.

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Cheaper than that depending on which tunnel you fly at.

I've done 30 to 35 hours in the last year or so and it's the best money Ive ever spent. It would have taken me years to get where I'm at without it - if at all.

It gets cheaper when you start splitting costs with other flyers. Around 200 bucks an hour if your doing 4 way. That can be achieved very quickly with belly flying and substantially longer if freeflying.

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I have gotten completely addicted to the tunnel. I started jumping late in the season, so I had low (and still low) jump numbers coming into my first session.

I have somewhere like 3 hours in the tunnel and just 30 jumps or so. Having a tunnel 30 minutes away is just a godsend.

I like it because I can try all the freeflying stuff in the safety of the tunnel, and when I try it in the sky, I already feel comfortable doing it in the tunnel. probably opposite how some people learn.

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Some people don't pay by the minute but pay by the month ;)

example $500 a month for 30min once a week
OR
$500 a month for 10min each day if you're close enough

For info regarding lift ticket prices all around the world check out
http://www.jumpticketprices.com/dropzones.asp

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SVCO is $15/min

At my DZ jump ticket is $25, with rental is $50, and my student cost is $70.

My DZ is at 5400ft and we can only get to 9500ft AGL (which is like 14,500MSL) and you only get like 35 sec of freefall. So in the tunnel I almost get 2 real freefalls to one minute of tunnel time. So for me it seems like a decent investment.

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I have had 10 minutes of tunneltime (2 sessions of 5 minutes) with only 2 days in between. During the first 5 minutes I knew i did something wrong, cause I was very unstable.

Later, I watched the dvd and noticed my legs were way too close to eachother, causing me to fly forward too much and making me unstable.

So I came back 2 days later and told my instructor about it. From then I did it right; perfect arch. I could do many things already, like turning 90 and 180 degrees and stopping, flying up and down, staying in one place, moving forward and backwards... But I still can't exit on my own :P

it was only 10 minutes but felt like it lasted forever, wich is great!
I think this is a great thing to do for newbies. You can learn so much from such a little time. And if you think about it: it's way cheaper than repeating jumps, especially jump 1-3. These are worth 15 minutes ;)

From 0 to 12.000 in 9 minutes

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I'm trying to get back to skydiving after having made about 80 jumps in the late '70's. A couple of weeks ago, I was passing by Eloy, so stopped and took 5 minutes in the tunnel. I found that, after almost 30 years of not jumping, I can still fly, albeit not very well. I could stay in the center, make turns, etc., but it wasn't very relaxed, you can see LOTS of jerky movements to correct my flight. Even so, I believe it helped me a lot, and next spring (when it warms up), I'll try to get back in the air, with a bit more recent experience, and more confidence.
I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.

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I'm sure it'll come back to you, old man :P
great to hear that you're comming back after such a long period!

It sounds like you still got it in you! Flying stable in the center and making turns... Of course you make some jerky movements. All that mucle memmory is pushed to the back of your head. I hope you'll have a lot of fun like you used to have next spring ;)

From 0 to 12.000 in 9 minutes

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Thanks, leandercool! That's an awfully nice thing to say!

Now to find me some French Paraboots, size 10 1/2 or 11... ;)

I'm a jumper. Even though I don't always have money for jumps, and may not ever own a rig again, I'll always be a jumper.

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After a 6 year hiatus, I spent 15 mins in the vegas tunnel. It was awesome! after the first 6 mins things were feeling very stable, on the last 3 min session one of the instructors & I were up flying together, up-down L-R, Side to side & shaking hands. Again it was awesome. I only did 42 jumps through 04-06 but never forgot what I learned. Also I was stoked to find that there is now a tunnel in delta BC. So I intend in the next 1-2 months on an hour with a coach so I can start back flying. Tunnels are sweet!

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