sirenoremac

The corporate iFly tunnels all had a pretty significant price restructuring just a few months ago. The prices vary by location, but the most expensive now run somewhere around $750/hr if you are buying time in 30 minute or larger increments, while the cheapest are at about $600/hr now. Buying less than 30 minute blocks is a bit more expensive and the premium increases as the amount of time decreases.

Call the DZ at 575-589-4506. I haven't been there in a few years, but they certainly did tandems then and I believe they still do now. For progression, yes they only do static-line, though a license from a static-line progression and a license from AFF are exactly the same :)

I think this is awesome. One thing I think might not be obvious to a non-jumper: for modern pilot chutes that are not spring loaded (as it appears you are planning to use), in a real skydive the pilot chute must be thrown clear of the jumper to get away from the turbulent air immediately above. I imagine teddy will have this need as well if you are going with this type of pilot chute, which seems challenging. Cool if you can make it work, but using a spring loaded pilot chute seems like it would be much easier. That can be compressed into the container on top of the bag, then the container can be closed with some kind of release mechanism (ripcord). When the release is triggered, the container opens and the pilot chute pops free into the wind stream. Perhaps you've already considered this, but it seemed like a not entirely obvious pitfall so I thought I'd mention it. I want to see this thing in action!

If it feels anything like the iFly Hollywood design, then I would guess that it flies nicely up to a few feet above the door, then is just okay for the rest of the way up. Flyable, but noticeably less smooth. The disadvantage of the air getting slower towards the top actually turns out to be kind of fun in certain situations, because you can really drill downward to the net and have a TON of stopping power. At Hollywood I would regularly do complete pencil (standing) drops from the very top and just flare a bit onto my belly a few feet off the net. Instant stop. So kind of fun for solo goofing off

This is so individual. 10 hours is a decent chunk of time. What you can learn depends on you and your coach. I would try hard to have one coach for most of the time, though mixing it up a bit could be useful as well, especially if you find yourself stuck with the feedback one coach is giving you. It's a very personal thing. Try to decide going into it where you want to be at the end, and discuss this with your coach so they can plan a good progression for you. I don't think it is unreasonable to aim for solid sit skills in ten hours. It's also probably doable to get to basic head down. You need to decide what you want, and put your time into that. Everybody learns different things at different paces, and there is definitely no set schedule like "sit flying takes two hours", "head down takes five". Also, and very non trivial, doing ten hours in eight weeks is a lot (especially for someone not used to tunnel flying). Don't underestimate how sore and fatigued the tunnel can make you. You'll certainly see diminishing returns once your muscles stop cooperating with you... It is a lot more physical then you might expect, especially learning new orientations like back or sit flying where you are using muscles that don't tend to get used that way in normal life (or most other physical activities). But I'll say it again. More than anything, get a good coach and talk through what you want to do. Have fun!

For control, the normal water based flyboards are completely controlled by balance. This guy invented those, so one would assume that he is pretty dang good at balancing and control on top of a column of otherwise uncontrolled thrust. Thrust vectoring would make some sense, but I think it is unlikely. The control he is using looks very similar to the electronic controls they have for their water based boards, which is purely a thrust controller. One of the third party videos (https://www.facebook.com/mastersofdirt/videos/10154097971536796/) has a very clean shot of the entire takeoff. On the whole, I am not 100% convinced, but I'm very much leaning towards it being real.

iFly Kansas City is open for business as of yesterday afternoon! Got to pop in for a short block, running like a dream.

Assuming this is double the size of Paraclete, and assuming that the power requirements scale linearly with cross section (which they probably don't, I don't know jack about this stuff), it will need 8,656 HP for similar capabilities (Paraclete is 4x 541HP motors, 2,164 HP). First google result for how much power a 500 HP electric motor uses gives 375KW. If that ratio scales and is accurate to begin with, then it looks like full power use would be about 6500 KW... which is... wow... I mean seriously, if this back of the envelope calculation is anywhere in the ballpark at all... geez... But hey, it's Abu Dhabi. They have plenty of oil and money to burn... Wonder if it's big enough to do circles in a wingsuit without shutting the suit completely down...

Looks like this is gonna be a ground level flight chamber model. These drawings were approved on May 1st. Building permit is submitted and currently under review :) http://opdocs.opkansas.org/City%20Docs/021615_rez1984-13.PDF

I agree, it can be very damaging to reinforce incorrect muscle memory. On the other hand, if you are sure that what you are practicing is the right thing, it can be helpful to ingrain that muscle memory outside the tunnel. In this case, I don't think it would be very helpful, as I don't think I can do the right thing for a leg turn lying on a bed.... though when I was learning to backfly, I actually did almost the exact same thing and it helped a lot. Of course that is a more general body position and easier to do correctly lying in bed... and I only did it after getting it decently down in the tunnel, so I already knew what it felt like and I could mentally critique myself, rather than just guess what might work...

Very last item in the council meeting summary is the approval: http://apps.opkansas.org/City-Government/Agendas-and-Minutes/City-Council/Action-Summaries/2015/20150216COAC.pdf

YES!!! I was pretty upset at the previous council response... it seemed like the Google Fiber debacle again...

I'm ~210lbs and 5'9". I sit fly quite comfortably in all of the tunnels I've been in (Hollywood, Austin, Raeford), though in Hollywood I struggle to get very high in a sit since it diffuses as it goes up. I have no problem staying on the net on my belly with the fans topped out if I want to (at Hollywood, probably not at the bigger tunnels), so I would definitely classify myself in the "like a rock" category. It took some work to figure out how to get enough lift in my sit at first, I spent a lot of time flying very stable about half an inch off the net before really getting the hang of using every available surface for lift. So, it's definitely possible though it may be some work. On the flip side, being forced to eke out every bit of lift is very good for skill development, as I can't just let the wind do all the work. I would guess from my experience that any of the modern tunnels would have no problem flying you in a sit. I learned to sit in the tunnel at Hollywood and always had to fly with the fans topped out, and when I went to Austin, I was able to fly easily with much less than maximum power (maybe around 70% if I recall). YMMV, but I don't think you will have any problems. Give it a go! Call the tunnel you're going to before hand and ask them too, they may have specific feedback for you.

Probably more like undereducated...

A leg drop will turn you. An arm movement will turn you. As said above, leg only will tend to pivot you more around your head. Arm movement will tend to pivot you more around your toes. If you coordinate them, you can get a faster turn and pivot around your center of mass more easily. Working on the two separately first is a great idea as you will get a feel for what each type of input does in isolation before trying to combine them.