tunnelflyer.com / Talk about specific wind tunnels / Bodyflight Bedford

Flight School UK now open

FlightSchoolUK — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 10:14:12 GMT

Flight School UK is now open. John McIver and Steve Hamilton of Sebastian XL have setup a wind tunnel coaching school based at Bedford Bodyflight in the UK.

They offer 1 on 1 camps and 4-way camps customised to suit the individuals / teams' needs. The following tunnel camp dates have been released:

September 30th to October 1st - 1:1 Camp

October 14th to October 15th - 1:1 Camp

November 11th to November 12th - 1:1 Camp

Learn more about them at www.flightschooluk.com

John & Steve

Wow - The place is looking fantastic!!

cloudfall — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 22:07:20 GMT

Well well well, I was in the Bedford area on business and on the way back home called in at the tunnel! I didn't have time or opportunity to fly - and it was the first time I'd been down there for about 6 months ..

WOW, this place has really come on. Don't get me wrong it was always good, but the amount of work that Paul Mayer and the team down there have put in to making this place just right, is amazing.

The onsite accomodation is great, if you were planning on doing some serious flying you would be really happy with the rooms that are available and larger groups willing to do so can use the onsite bunk rooms. You could easily stay onsite for a week the rooms are much better than the local travelodge!

There is a really smart cafe with doors that open up to a 'picnic area' outside. The stairwell up to the tunnel has been smarted up .. and the entrance in to the facility.. all in all looking really very smart. The training and briefing rooms are well equipped, lots of flat screen TVs, internet access onsite, loads of places to hang out.

Good job!

Whats coming up at Bodyflight? 14 Sep 2006

cloudfall — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 16:59:54 GMT

New School Flight Tunnel Camp Returns!

Steven Blincoe is comming back to Bedford for one of his famous FF camps from November the 10th to the 12th.

The camp includes one hour of flight time (4 x 15 minute sessions), each with a one hour pre-brief, one hour debrief, DVD video, and in-air coaching.
The cost is £739 GBP for the standard camp. Any hour after the first hour purchased is £709 GBP, a saving of £30! It is recommended that you buy two hours.

Contact Steven to secure your slot. There are only four left, so book now!

Feel free to email with any questions: info@blincoe.org

Spa Hayabusa FS camp!

This Belgian 4-way team were medal winners at the 2006 Bodyflight World Challenge. They will be running a tunnel camp on the 21st and 22nd October.

Contact Roy for more information or to book:roy@skydivehayabusa.com

Bargain Birthday Tickets

The Bodyflight Birthday Bash is on its way and the tickets are disappearing quickly! You can buy them online at the store page, under 'vouchers' or you can give us a call on +44 (0)845 200 2960.

BARGAIN! Flyers' tickets are £150 which includes entertainment, food and 15 minutes of flight time. Non-flyers' tickets are £20. 15 minutes is normally £168 which is a great saving, with the added bonus that you can pool the time with your friends (even those who have purchased no-flying tickets), enabling you to share tunnel time all day! At one of our last parties, someone managed to fly for 2 hours!

FREE COACHING! Steve Hamilton has kindly offered that he will be available throughout the day for FS coaching at no extra cost.

NEW CAFE & BAR! The 'West Wing' is coming on a treat. The gym, sauna and hot tub will be underway early next year and the cafe is due to open just before the party. The Birthday will have a licensed bar and food will also be available.

Bodyflight Bedfords 1st Birthday Party!

hollandnigel — Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:41:59 GMT

On Saturday 23rd September 2006 Bodyflight Bedford will be celebrating it's first Birthday!

The party will be fancy dress: Super Heroes and Villains and if your costume is cleared by our staff you can fly in it too!
There are tunnel time prizes for the best costume too!

Celebrations start at 11am

There will be Tunnel Twister a Scrambles Competition and of course, fun flying!

The evening will be rounded off with a buffet, bar and music by DJ Richie

Tickets are just £150 and include a minimum of 15 minutes Flying
Non-Flying Tickets (or those wishing to share with other flyers) are only £20

If you're interested please contact Bryony on 0845 200 2960
or e-mail bryony@bodyflight.co.uk

Bunk rooms? Somewhere to stay? Are these ready?

cloudfall — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 16:53:50 GMT

Hello Bedfordians...

What accomodation is on site there now? I seem to recall someone mentioning that some bunk rooms were ready, but what about individual or double rooms? What's going on down there on the old accomodation front?

regards

James

The Standard

WindWorX — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 18:05:09 GMT

I just got back at the beginning of this week so things have been crazy with me. I shot 25 tapes of probably the most amazing stuff I have ever seen. I am in the process of importing video to my drives and writting an article for the Bodyflight Network, so for those of you who are jonesin to hear/see how it was just have to wait a few more days. Sorry. Anyway I am now telling everyone and their mother that Bodyflight Bedford should be the standard to which every tunnel/tunnel owner/staff should strive to get to. The tunnel is amazing, the facilities are amazing, and if that is not enough the staff blows all of this out of the water with their kindness and great vibes. If you are anywhere on the face of the earth and you have contemplated visting Bodyflight Bedford, GO, GO NOW!!!! Now matter what it costs you for your voyage it is so rediculously worth the $$. Keep an eye out on Bodyflight.net for lots of pics/videos, and articles featuring this tunnel. THANK YOU TO ALL OF YOU AT BODYFLIGHT BEDFORD it was an experience of a lifetime which I will never forget!

C'mon people the damn thing is 16 ft! if you fly in tunnels you can't deny yourself that type of airspace!

COMPETITION : Bodyflight World Challenge!!

cloudfall — Sun, 08 Jan 2006 16:31:01 GMT

Message posted by Paul from Bodyflight Bedford see below:

Ok peeps...

Quite excited to tell you that we are organising a competition which we are planning to be quite an event.

We are inviting flyers from anywhere who want to prove their skill and walk away with some pretty impressive prizes Cool

On the 8th + 9th April 2006 we will hold the first Bodyflight World Challenge with open events for 2-way freefly and 4-way relative.

Full details of the event schedule / rules / entry details etc will be posted shortly..

At this stage I will tell you though that there will be some substantial rewards for the first 4 places in each category as we want to see some of the best flying on show.

Will follow up with the full event details soon - but happy to answer any questions in the meantime. This will hopefully be an annual event.

Smile

Bodyflight Bedford
http://www.bodyflight.co.uk

New Years Eve Bash!

RossDagley — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 12:02:27 GMT

Just a quick post to say how well the BodyFlight Bedford New Years Eve party was. Incredibly well run and organised event, with loads of interesting events happening to keep both flyers and non-flyers amused for the entire evening.

Tunnel Twister was a great success, with two joint winners both scoring a very impressive 27 points each, whilst the 4-way scrambles provided some (very short notice!!) interesting dives. Some teams had under 15 minutes to plan and dirt dive 3 different 4-ways, and it was very pleasing to see how well everyone gelled and got down to business! (even I didn't shame myself too badly, with our team coming 3rd!)

The free freefly coaching was a massive hit, with Rob (et al) doing a sterling job of staying on his feet whilst new back flyers did their best to wipe him out!

The big way / hybrid stuff was also a great draw for the crowds, and very impressive to watch (even if my skills weren't up to being on it ) 12 people in the tunnel at once was an amazing sight, with some very impressive skills being demonstrated.

There was a nice range of skills present, with some new flat and freefly flyers right through to some very experienced world-team members, and world class freeflyers. Always amazing to see points turned so accurately, or monster head-down carving!

Food and drink was provided throughout the night, and although was of the 'snack' kind (sandwiches and nibbles etc) was of a high quality and very nice. Drinks were on-hand throughout (alcoholic for the non-flyers, or those that had finished flying).

Then at 9pm, the DJ got spinning (and bizarrely, flying in between records!), the lights dimmed, and the party really got started. Everyone seemed to be having an amazing time. 11pm sadly arrived, and the tunnel was shutdown for the evening, but that didn't stop everyone enjoying themselves with this being the indoor equivalent of the 'beer light'! Paul made the announcements for the winners of the scrambles and the tunnel twister, then it was party into the New Year!

Overall, a very well organised party/event, with Paul really showing he knows how to hook us all up a treat! The allocated time of 15 minutes that was a included with your entry ticket certainly got stretched! Everyone cottoned on to the fact if you flew with more people, you got free time! Personally I got 40 minutes in the tunnel, whilst some lucky sods (Henry!) managed to get over an hour!

Amazing effort Paul - very well done! Already looking forward to next years!

Sample photos - http://www.dagley.co.uk/tunnel/nye/

New Year Tunnel Boogie!

cloudfall — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 21:14:24 GMT

From an email sent out by Bodyflight Bedford ..

On 31 December Bodyflight Bedford will be hosting the event of the year!

From 1pm on the 31st the party will take us through to 2006 with a multitude of competitions, demos and prizes with a whole load of flying plus music by DJ Richie and food & drink!

Tickets will go on sale from Monday 28 November. The tickets are inclusive of food, drink, entertainment and 15 minutes of flying! They can be purchased over the phone for £150. Tickets for your chums who want to share your time or who do not want to fly can be purchased for £20 per person. Watch out, there is only a limited number of each type available!

‘Flyers’ tickets may only be purchased by experienced flyers who have already flown with us before the 31st December. This means that on the day we can maximise our flying time!

The day will be run as an open manifest system and you can use your time in 2 minute blocks, allocating it to any of the fun events and competitions throughout the day.

To see in the New Year with Bodyflight, call +44 (0)845 200 2961 or email bev@bodyflight.co.uk

Prices and booking

daniel_owen_uk — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 16:24:12 GMT

Now not sure if you guys will be able to answer this, but though I would try you lot first as I am bored at work

I am going to be visiting bedford over xmas most likely for 20-30 minutes. I will be going with 2 friends (yeah I know get em to sign up here).

One is a skydiver who did AFF with me and has done a little tunnel time b4, she will prob be doing about 15 minutes.

Other is a complete newbie, probably doing a triple lesson.

Now if I book 30 minutes (block time), will I be ok to rotate with both of my friends and then just take the rest of the time after? Or are students completely seperate.

If its block time will I have to fly it straight or will they arrange for me to rotate with someone?

Bedford, power increase, fabian and the meaning of the universe

cloudfall — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 14:50:40 GMT

Was down at Bedford last week .. !!

We are now really spoiled for choice here in the UK. In addition to Airkix which really is a superb tunnel I got the chance to do a few minutes again in Bedford last week. Bedford really is a monster of a tunnel. It was a "middle of the night" affair and to be honest I didn't get the most from it because I'd been in the car for a good few hours. In fact, after just a few rotations I was so tired I just wanted to curl up in to a ball and go to sleep.

Each time I go down to Bedford the place gets smarter and smarter, the waiting area now has a large flat screen TV in it showing exactly what is going on inside the tunnel itself. This means you get to sit and watch flying from a very comfortable area with a cup of coffee in your hands. There seemed to be more staff than at any other time I've been there, plenty of new faces and I met some good people.

The tunnel has had the pitch of it's propeller altered since I was last at Bedford, which in theory gives it more power. Well .. ok it's no theory.. this thing was already seriously fast and .. it's even faster now. I have never done any free flying in Bedford, but next time I'm down there I'm going to give it a shot for sure.

The air in Bedford is superb, although I have to say it's unlike anything I have experienced anywhere .. it's powerful, very smooth, but .. Hmm .. sort of ... soft.. this is not a criticism at all .. the air is truly awesome .. but Bedford definitely has it's own signature. You need to come fly this tunnel now and you'll get what I mean.

Fabian from Florida was at the tunnel and it was a pleasure watching him fly. I've seen Fabian fly on numerous occasions in the past at SVO and I've shared blocked time with him once or twice. He's even helped me with my sit flying. His flying was awesome 18 months ago .. but watching him at Bedford was stunning. It transpires he wasn't just there just for my entertainment but was there to help some of the Bedford staff further improve their flying. Fabian has to be one of the most accomplished free flyers I have seen anywhere. What's more he always seems so damn happy!!! Mind you, if I spent as much time as he did playing in wind tunnels I'd probably be a whole lot happier too.

Anyway, I am looking forward to coming back down to Bedford in the near future, with the old baggy suit on.

James

Off to the UK Help!

WindWorX — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 23:42:35 GMT

I am planning a trip to the UK in the end of February, and I have never been. The sole purpose for my trip is to film both Bedford, and Airkix for my documentary on VWTs. I want to stay in a nice place as I will be bringing my production assistant (girlfriend) and would like to keep her as well as myself nice and cozy while we sleep(no Tents. So I guess what I am asking for is some helpful tips? Where to stay, and the easiest way to travel between the two tunnels? I mean easy cuz I never been there, and will have no idea where I am at. Oh yeah also, where should we fly into? Thanks in advance for the input!

You asked for photos.....

paulipod — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 00:24:50 GMT

A few requests for some photos.... so here you go

http://www.bodyflight.co.uk/photos/pic1.jpg
http://www.bodyflight.co.uk/photos/pic2.jpg
http://www.bodyflight.co.uk/photos/pic3.jpg
http://www.bodyflight.co.uk/photos/pic4.jpg
http://www.bodyflight.co.uk/photos/pic5.jpg

Bedford up grade

FUBAR UK — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 06:59:12 GMT

Flew Bedford last night following their prop, hydraulics and software upgrade.

Now changing the air speed is much faster and controlable.

The air speed is now a lot faster if you need it for free fly etc.

Once a gain a good night of flying.

Competitions

FUBAR UK — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 07:04:51 GMT

Looks like Bedford are planning to start a Tunnle flying league.

Possibly four way, three way and free fly two way.

Also they are planning a big international comp in March.-- Details not set yet.

A monster of a wind tunnel ..

cloudfall — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 16:08:50 GMT

This place is based out in the sticks in rural Bedfordshire and is a former ministry of defence tunnel that has been converted for human body flight. But, believe me, it's well worth a visit!! I've flown in this baby for oooo .. a couple of hours now .. and it rocks. It's a superb, massive tunnel with a magical feel about it. I'm a bit lardy at the moment and this thing could have pinned me to the ceiling .. any one else flown it yet .. what did you think..?