Flyaway has produced more Tunnelrats than anyone else

Bodyflight.net — Mon, 21 Nov 2005 16:16:14 GMT

Some folks will tell you that Flyaway Pigeon Forge is the worst tunnel for training. It's hot, it's slow, you gotta wear big suits, etc.

I think they are wrong! A great many of tunnelrats have come out of the Flyaway tunnel in Pigeon Forge.. most of us owe a great deal of our expertise to this particular tunnel. There is something to be said about learning to fly in slow air...

imagine this scenario... your building a house, you have no power tools.. so you hammer away relentlessly
then one day your building another house but you have been given power tools, pop pop pop and your done

I think it's the same. Learning this way, in a more difficult environment, prepared me for ANYTHING. Basically if you can fly well at this tunnel, you can fly anywhere! Although the positions and techniques are different than a high speed tunnel, the skill set is the same and a great deal can be learned. If flyaway is an option for you, don't discount it, it's a great place and the staff are there because they love it! Many of them have been there longer than 5 years and in fact most of the staff has been there longer. They care about what they do and that's very important.

The low speed has benefits, especially when learning new things, you can rely on yourself more than the airspeed to make things happen. This is important to note.. high airspeeds make you fly easier for sure, struggling for speed can give you a good amount of respect for it and makes learning to do things easier in that you don't get slung around as easy when you mess up. Being able to fly a good range of speeds is very important to me, as I really enjoy flying with 80 pound kids without adding more suit!

Flying in groups at Flyaway is a challenge as well, but we've done it for years, 3 and 4 at a time!

Anything you want to do, you can do at Flyaway for sure! Visit, have a great time, experience the HISTORY of the sport and where it started! It's SO worth it!

It DOES get hot in there,(can't argue with that) always best to be there first thing at opening... the cool air feels so good! You have about 30 minutes before the tunnel gets too hot.. take it and then come back tomorrow

If you go, give us a shout, we'll come play with you! We live equidistant from AAC as we do Flyaway PF

Great to see where most of the tunnelrats started

freefalljenn — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 04:28:18 GMT

My husband and I just got back from the AAC 4th of July Boogie, and since we were so close, we decided to visit Flyaway Pigeon Forge and see where the sport began. The staff was very friendly. We split 15 minutes between 6 people. We expected the tunnel to be hot, like it usually is (like 110-115 degrees or so). The chamber of the tunnel was pretty warm, but tolerable, but the air in the airstream was about 130-140 degrees. The tunnel was hot enough that it was actually extremely uncomfortable to fly for more than a minute or so at a time. It was an experience that I wouldn't trade for anything, but probably won't repeat too frequently. It was about 100 degrees outside, and I am sure that contributed to some of the heat, but I definitely recommend flying early in the day. After flying here, I have a great appreciation and admiration for those tunnel rats who stuck with the sport despite the sauna like properties of the Flyaway tunnels.

Edited to add pictures, so sorry Dawn, I had to!!!

tunnelflyer.com / Talk about specific wind tunnels / Flyaway Indoor Skydiving (Pigeon Forge)

Flyaway has produced more Tunnelrats than anyone else

Great to see where most of the tunnelrats started