iFly Indoor Skydiving

This was done August 21, 2011 at iFly, the Union City location. We were briefed with a short instructional and safety video along with a recap with our instructor. Then black suits with bold colors, goggles, ear plugs and helmets were provided. On this day, I donned my new Tokidoki/Marvel Storm shirt, hoping she would bestow her incredible wind powers upon me.

Turns out the shirt matches the suit given to me. Nice!

Then, the instructor started checking us if everything is in place and fits right. We sat a bit, waiting for the group ahead of us to finish. As we waited, I started getting nervous. while waiting, I watched the other participants go before me, taking mental notes of what to do and what not to do.

Before I knew it, it was my turn. On the first bout in the wind tunnel, you get one minute. I braced myself and let my instructor flip me horizontal, spread out my arms and attempted to fly. I kept having trouble staying up. The instructor placed me in front of the mirror to tell me to how to position my arms and to keep my chin up. He seemed to have a hold of me for most of the time, giving me hand signals to bend or straighten my legs and relax.

Once I finally processed the meaning of the hand signals, I knew I was flying. I went higher up above the instructor's head, spun around, then my feet hit the walls of the tunnel. That's when I was gently pulled down and flung to the door. The wind was so strong that I had trouble getting to the exit, which made me laugh a bit too much.

Once I got out, the mother of a family that's part of my group gave me thumbs up and said I was in the air by myself for a good while. Of course, I felt proud.
Waiting this time around, I wasn't as nervous. Soon, it was my second turn. This time I tried not to think so hard. Just relax.

Finally I got a handle of it. I didn't need the instructor as much. It was incredible flying freely and spinning around getting a good view of the place. At one point the mom and her two daughters gave me thumbs up. I tried to give the thumbs up back, but I dropped a bit and I couldn't stop laughing! As I laughed, saliva was flying up and I could feel the slobber on my face, which led to more laughing. I had to keep my mouth shut from now on. So I was given an extra minute since I had the "Spread your Wings" package.

Two minutes of awesome flying!

At the end, we each got a certificate from the instructor. He said that I was pretty good in there and wrote "Wonderful Flight!" on my certificate.

Definitely, something I would do again!

More pics here!