iFly coming to Northern Virginia

[PhreeZone 15]

http://dcist.com/2015/05/indoor_skydiving_is_a_thing_you_can.php

TIL indoor skydiving is a thing. And it is apparently coming to a would-be office park in Loudoun County, Virginia.

Peterson Cos. is proposing to open Northern Virginia's first indoor skydiving center at the corner of Loudoun County Parkway and Route 7, the Washington Business Journal reported.

Operator iFly has facilities across the country, including one in Virginia Beach. The company explains that indoor skydiving replicates the conditions of true free fall, but without any of the pesky jumping out of an airplane business.

"iFLY’s vertical wind tunnel generates 1400 horse power from 4 powerful fans, creating a wall-to-wall cushion of air on which you can safely float. There’s no parachute, no jumping, and nothing attaching you to planet Earth. It’s just you and the air, and it’s the most incredible adrenaline rush," their website reads.

A first-time introduction at the Virginia Beach location costs $59.95 and return flights cost $49.95. They say that most people can fly, including those with physical disabilities, and that kids as young as three have taken the metaphorical plunge. The whole thing lasts about an hour, which iFly says is the equivalent of one and half skydives. They hope to open by Christmas, WBJ reported.

And thus you conceivably have a reason to go out to Loudoun County. Which is exactly what developers are betting on.

Rather than just filling its 205-acre Commonwealth Center development with offices, Peterson's president of retail Taylor Chess is hoping that iFly and other ventures, like a three-story high-end driving range, will turn it into an entertainment district. "With the restaurants and theater at One Loudoun, with TopGolf and iFLY and other entertainment uses along with potential office opportunities at Commonwealth, this will be a true district, not just a corner,” Chess told WBJ.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[vincearnone 0]

The BizJournals article says:

Quote

The 67-foot-tall facility, with a flight chamber in the center of the building and fans at the top leg,

I wonder if this implies to the height of the flight chamber? I would guess the flight chamber at the new Houston location is about that tall, hopefully this implies the tunnel will be a 14 foot, ground level model similar to the Woodlands location in Houston.

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