corpkid

I don't understand how the market can support essentially 3 tunnels (the two new iFly tubes and this Extreme Flight competitor single tube). I'm all for it as it will hopefully help to keep prices down via competition, but I'm super skeptical of the Extreme Flight tunnel actually coming to fruition. On a positive note, YAY FOR AIR CONDITIONING! Flying in the Orlando tunnel on a very hot and muggy day is like flying in soup, and it gets damn cold some nights in the winter (which I actually love). Either way, I need to get lots of flying done in the old tunnel before the prices inevitably go up. :/

July 30th... Fingers crossed he makes his spot! Yikes.

Dammit - I can't wait for Orlando to get a new tunnel! Oh and that was pretty sick.

Yup - we can kiss those $10 minutes goodbye my friend... But a faster, smoother, rounder tunnel is always appreciated! Anymore word on the overnight in Orlando at the end of the month?

from bruise to death, with cuts and broken bones in between. Yes you can die in a Wind tunnel. You can break your fucking neck. You can break your back. You can break your wrists (ask Olav) If you don't want to follow the tunnel rules because you are so good, well go to another tunnel, or better yet, build your own. Cracked two ribs in the tunnel when somebody I was doing a 2-way RW flew into my burble when I was on the net staring up at him wonder WTF he was doing. Couldn't get up and out fast enough and he dove almost head down onto me at full speed. That took about 4 months to get over and hurt like hell. Yes - you can get VERY hurt in the tunnel. It's a sport. I've seen people break wrists, fingers, bloody noses, etc.

I couldn't imagine NOT having back flying down pat before sit flying (which I'm learning right now in the Orlando tunnel). Took me about 2 hours to get really solid on my back. I'm at the point where I sit fly for about 15 seconds and then cork... but I can get right back up (at top speed) in about 3 seconds and try again. It's exhausting but that tunnel time is VERY expensive so to everyone elses point - why would you WANT to sitfly at those prices only to be starting up at the fans for 75% of your flight time?? And the instructors have always PUSHED me (I have about 15 hours in that tunnel) to try harder things. For example, after I got my back flying down - the pushed me to learn full, controlled barrel rolls, and then once I was good at those, they pushed me to do belly to back & vice versa transitions... They even had me do a few front flips (poorly) but point being - your experience seems unique or maybe it's just because I know all the instructors and they know my skill level.

http://www.okctalk.com/content/129-skydiving.html Cool because I have family about 10 mins from there. Dear sister - you may be seeing much more of me! LOL

They are SO expensive to build and maintain you have to have a serious skydiving community and/or a very busy tourist base. Having even a "crappy one" in PF = competition which means a draw on sales for a new one = probably not gonna happen soon... Be like lots of my friends and just move to Orlando. 2 AWESOME dz's (Deland and Z-hills) and a decent (and very cheap) tunnel. :) Plus, the weather is skydive friendly pretty much year round.

I'm about 220 and 6 feet tall. I have no problems in the Orlando tunnel on belly, back or sit (well, I'm learning sit but I can get off the net for a bit before bailing to my back - but that's just a function of my level of learning, not the wind to weight issue). What everyone else says about good body position is truth. On my belly and back, with the Orlando tunnel around 95% I can zoom WAY up and stay there (a good 5 to 7 feet above the glass). Just gotta make myself "big." I also have a pretty loose tunnel suit which helps catch the wind. I doubt you'll have much problem - especially if you are flying a fast tunnel (Orlando is pretty slow compared to the new ones). Have fun!

I am just now learning sit fly in the tunnel so I'm by no means an expert, but not too long ago I was learning barrel rolls and the trick for me was to drop my head. Try this - get on your back and drop your head so much that you are literally looking at the wall upside down. Practice that a bit (the visuals are very odd and take some time to get used to). It's also not easy at first to stay stable and in one spot on your back doing this, but it gets easy pretty quickly. When you want to do your roll from back to belly, get back in that "looking upside down" position and don't forget to extend your arms to keep you from flying forward. It really helped me do nice smooth (and stable) rolls. Watching my videos I think it sort of forces an arch and that's what helps. Good luck!!

+1 on Ari - he's the guy who taught me how to belly fly. One of if not the best tunnel coaches. He's based out of Austin last I heard but travels a lot. Great guy and great coach! If you have the opportunity to fly with him make it a point to do so.

DEFOGit was the ticket! Seems to work like a champ so far, but haven't tried in super high humidity yet (been lucky). I always used to get a little fogging when I was on my back, but that night it was near 100% humidity and it was a deal-breaker - basically ruined my whole (expensive) 15 min block. I've since applied the DEFOGit (without any of that crazy crystalizing crap happening) and it doesn't fog at all anymore. I can't wait to try this on my ski goggles in a few weeks! Thanks man.

Here's what I did in the Orlando Tunnel... I flew a lot with different instructors and all were good, just some better at that particular thing I was working on. So one coach might be great for X while another might be great for Y, and further, having different people coaching you on the X or Y can offer some new tips/tricks/perspective. So it's tricky like that. For example, I sucked on my back (it was fear of going up too high and I'd ball up and fall back to the net). Enter Preston - aka Sgt. Kick Ass and he wouldn't let me leave the tunnel (I had the whole block to myself) until I stayed above the lights on my back for one minute. By minute 4 or 5 I was so exhausted I just fricken' did it to get out of the tunnel and rest! So that worked and that fear is gone and backfly is pretty easy now. For advanced belly stuff - I found Striker is my go-to. He's always challenging me to play tag with him, etc. Keeps my precision on point. Etc. Benji seems to be my sit fly guy - we'll find out in the overnight in a few weeks (booked an hour to learn this now that I have back more or less down). You get the point. I know in the Orlando tunnel we have lots of seriously talented instructors - not sure about NH... My advice is work on back - it's so foundational. You really can't move forward with VFF until you have that down solid. It's your "dump position" when a sit fly or transition goes bad and being able to control yourself keeps your noggin from smacking the walls and lets you get right back into the position you were working on without flailing and bouncing around for 15 seconds. :) Feel free to PM me for some tips that helped me get back flying to "click" (finally). :) GOOD LUCK!

I just want to let people know the Fogtech DX almost ruined my visor! I put it on after washing it and all seemed fine, then all of a sudden it started crystalizing like frost and went from the top two about 3 inches in before I started furiously scrubbing it off. Not cool. I think it may have reacted to the anti-fog applied by the helmet manufacturer. Either way I was able to save my visor but would not advise using this product. Was pretty freaky to watch happen all of sudden - literally looked like my visor was "freezing up" the way a car windshield does!

Wanted to add - I have that stuff and have tried it on my ski goggles and it didn't work for me. Like I said, I run hot when I'm working pretty hard (skiing/wind tunnel) so that's probably why I need something "stronger" - hope these wipes work out! I'll try the advice of cleaning my visor before applying. Have 15 mins Saturday in the tunnel and hope it stays cool like it is now (Orlando is an open-air tunnel) but we'll see!