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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 30/04/2007 22:29:01
Posts: 5, Visits: 16 |
| | Hi, I'm new to the wind tunnel and have actually never flew or even seen once in my life! Heard about it when started doing skydiving. My plan is to do wind tunnel in conjunction with jumping so can improve my flying skills. Has anybody been in the aerodium_latvia? Its my first time considering wind tunnel and this one is the best for me regarding location and prices. I currently have 300 Jumps most of them are Freefly. I would like opinions on this particular wind tunnel as I'm thinking of going there very soon to do about 3 hours flying time. Since its a bit of an investment and I want to do some significant time in it. Is this tunnel a good one to improve my Freefly skills specially Head up/Sit and Head down positions? Thanks and Blue Skies Miguel |
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Supreme Being
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 31/01/2007 15:55:02
Posts: 139, Visits: 348 |
| | Hello Miguel, and welcome to Tunnelflyer.com Forums!! I haven't been to the Latvian tunnel, however I did get the opportunity to meet the owner Ivars and fly with him last year on a trip to the USA. He spent alot of time showing us their design and we have seen lots of videos. If you didn't know.. it was Ivars and his crew who did the Olympic Closing Ceremonies http://www.bodyflight.net/2006_torinno_olympics_.html Anyway... I think that he represented with a GREAT attitude about flying, a true love of the sport and has a machine, that obviously is capable of some really nice speeds! So give it a go.. take a chance! and then.. let us all know how it went! Good luck! and remember.. just relax!
Dawn Suiter
Bodyflight Network Vertical Wind Tunnels Worldwide
www.bodyflight.net
View My Bodyflight.net Profile & Logbook |
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The Boss
Group: Administrators
Last Login: 23/10/2007 12:58:29
Posts: 115, Visits: 547 |
| Miguel - did you ever get to the tunnel?
.. and Dawn.. I don't know if you realise .. but your hair is purple!!
What have I told you about eating blue-berry's in the tunnel :-/ |
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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 30/04/2007 22:29:01
Posts: 5, Visits: 16 |
| Hey flyers, Ok, just came back yesterday from the Latvian wind tunnel. Here are my humble comments about it: 1- If you are thinking of improving your freefly skills... forget it! The tunnel simply doesn’t have enough power for it. Even using the baggy suits they have. The top speed of the tunnel is about 190 Kmh. Obviously, the heavier you are, the more difficult it will be to fly it. 2- The tunnel environment is VERY different from skydiving. Not for the obvious reason of one being in the ground and another jumping from a plane... The body position you must have in a tunnel to fly it needs to be adapted to the speed of the wind tunnel itself. That was my main "mental block" at the beginning because I was doing my body position based on my skydiving knowledge. Wasn’t working! But once I overtook that I picked it up fairly quickly and on the second day I won myself a silver pin, which gave me 20% discount on every single minute after that. 3- if you are looking to improve your flying skills for belly/relative work, it is a good place to start with. This was my first time in a tunnel so cant really compare it with anything else. What I can say is that at the end of it, I felt that it helped my flying BELLY skills a lot, especially because I am a cameraman for tandems where height levels are extremely important. It is a good place to give you an understanding of how your body flies and turns. 4- The people in the place are really nice specially Reinis and Ingus (both of them performed in the Torino Olympics). I had the chance to be with both of them inside the tunnel and they can both so some pretty amazing things. 5- Do not try to do 30 minutes per day for 4 days in a row!!! You will need to be Rambo to be able to do it. This sadly put an end to my superman complex very quickly. Tunnel is very physically demanding and at the end of the 2nd, 3rd I just couldn’t feel my upper body muscles anymore. On the 4th day I was just able to do 15 minutes. Also If you over do it, you will not perform as well. 6- Overall it was a great experience an I will be interested in doing it again in this tunnell at some stage in the future as it is a cheaper alternative for BELLY at around 440 USD / 350 Euro (with silver pin) compared to the skyventure tunnells in france or england for example. 7- The tunnel is in Sigulda about 1 hour bus from Riga. You can get to Riga using ryanair so flight prices are low. As for Riga itself the prices are low, the women are hot and the city is interesting  Loved it! guess thats it. Back in the air this weekend so can test what I learned. |
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Supreme Being
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 08/08/2008 21:13:36
Posts: 196, Visits: 499 |
| [quote]1- If you are thinking of improving your freefly skills... forget it! The tunnel simply doesn’t have enough power for it. Even using the baggy suits they have. The top speed of the tunnel is about 190 Kmh.
Obviously, the heavier you are, the more difficult it will be to fly it.
[/quote]
Any tunnel can be used for freeflying, you just need to be a proficient body pilot. You must learn to fly the air; in the sky you simply fall down, in a tunnel you must create lift and fly relative. I find things MUCH easier to do in the sky than the tunnel.
Tunnel flying is no simple task as you found out, but I'm sure your sky skills will have benefited greatly from your visit. If you spend time flying the tunnel, you'll be surprised at how freeflying in there will seem less impossible with each visit you make 
Keep flying! Keep having fun! Keep up your hard work!
~*~Spread Your Love & Fly~*~
Paige Rudolph |
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Forum Newbie
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: 30/04/2007 22:29:01
Posts: 5, Visits: 16 |
| Thanks for the feedback Paige, I realize I'm not proficient enough in tunnel time to know the full potential of it, but in order to get into head up and head down positions you need more power than for belly/back flying. In THIS particular tunnel you cannot do Head up or Head down positions because you cannot get enough power. The coaches there with dozens of hours told me that it is not possible and they can’t do it either. Maybe a VERY VERY light person with the right suit or a child could do it but most people couldn’t. Good news about this tunnel is that there are projects to increase the power output to allow for this. Will have to hope and see. Now, for something completely different:
I'm hurt Paige by something you said: "in the sky you simply fall down". Those are knives in the heart of any skydiver! We do thank Newton for gravity but we really love Einstein for relativity. You just don’t fall down. You can go forward, backward, down even up, if you fly relative to other flyers. I wouldn’t trade skydiving for wind tunnel because the second is of great help to the first. Used together it can be a very powerful tool to get close to the ultimate dream that all we crazy cats share: To be able to fly! For ME the main difference between the 2 is on time perception really, not the technicalities of it. 1 minute in the tunnel is rather fast and time also flies while 1 minute in freefall gives me a lot more memories. It defies all theories and actually makes time slow down. Apologies for the political/philosophic divagation between Skydiving and wind tunnel, at the end of the day it’s all about having fun. right?  Blue Skies
Miguel |
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