iFLY brings skydiving indoors
By Kevin Connor, Toronto Sun First posted: Sunday, July 19, 2015 02:38 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, July 19, 2015 02:46 PM EDT
OAKVILLE - It’s the adrenaline rush of skydiving without having to jump out of a perfectly good plane.
iFLY Toronto’s vertical wind tunnel technology offers thrill-seekers the gravity-defying experience of indoor simulated skydiving.
“It’s the same sensation as skydivers feel when they are free falling,” said Chris Andrew, a world-certified instructor who has been at iFLY — located on Winston Park Dr. in Oakville — for the past six years.
Andrew become so hooked on the sport, he decided to make it his career.
“It’s not like a boat or a plane, so there is no motion sickness. You won’t get that funny feeling,” he said.
Antonella Grivec was relieved at her lack of nausea after making a first jump into the tunnel.
“I felt it (wobbly) the most when I stepped out of the tunnel. I didn’t like the dribbling I had down my face. They should tell you about that,” said Grivec, here on vacation from Mildura Count Victoria, Australia.
“I did feel free and safe. It felt like you were going so high, but you weren’t 60,000 feet in the air. I would definitely do it again,” she said.
Drooling isn’t that common, said Andrew, who admitted he gets a chuckle when people open their mouths in the tunnel and look like big jowled dogs with their heads out a car window.
The experience felt like the real deal, Paolo Libia said, adding he felt like a bird.
“This is a great experience for someone who doesn’t want to jump out of a plane,” Libia added.
Veteran skydiver Joe Stubbs uses iFLY as a training ground during the skydiving off-season.
“It’s more than fun, it’s a training tool where you can work on your formations and do all sorts of things. It’s another way of challenging myself and I love every aspect of it,” said Stubbs, a pilot who took his first skydiving jump in 2011.
“When something catches my interest it doesn’t take me long to try it. It’s a good way to spend many weekends.”
Joe Pinto had his young cousins from Portugal out for a dive.
“There is nothing like this for them back home. They have had an amazing time. We have been to the CN Tower and (Canada’s) Wonderland, but this is what they will remember,” Pinto said.
Children as young as four can dive in the tunnel and for Andrew it is a favourite part of the job.
“Kids are so gung-ho and have no fear. Because they are smaller, the tunnel is huge for them,” he said.
“Some come in superhero T-shirts and I tell them, ‘Today you are going to fly.’ I love it. It’s like I don’t work a day in my life.”
For more information, go to iflytoronto.com.
HISTORICAL LEAP:
In 1306, Chinese acrobats attached to parachutes jumped off towers as part of their shows.
A French man started dropping animals, including his pet dog, in baskets connected to a parachute in 1783. The trials were a success so he took a turn and his best jump was from 2,400 metres.
In the early 1900s, pilots started to be fit with parachutes in case a plane came into danger. This led to people starting to jump for fun.
During the construction of the CN Tower in 1974, a construction worker made a successful static line jump from a crane on top of the tower. He was fired right afterwards.
In 2014, Alan Eustace made a stratosphere jump from a balloon 40 kilometres above the earth, which is the current world record for the highest skydive. The average jump tops-out at 4 km.
kevin.connor@sunmedia.ca
iFLY brings skydiving indoors | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun
kate upton could have filmed there.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=77-pNVbE0Uw
By Kevin Connor, Toronto Sun First posted: Sunday, July 19, 2015 02:38 PM EDT | Updated: Sunday, July 19, 2015 02:46 PM EDT
OAKVILLE - It’s the adrenaline rush of skydiving without having to jump out of a perfectly good plane.
iFLY Toronto’s vertical wind tunnel technology offers thrill-seekers the gravity-defying experience of indoor simulated skydiving.
“It’s the same sensation as skydivers feel when they are free falling,” said Chris Andrew, a world-certified instructor who has been at iFLY — located on Winston Park Dr. in Oakville — for the past six years.
Andrew become so hooked on the sport, he decided to make it his career.
“It’s not like a boat or a plane, so there is no motion sickness. You won’t get that funny feeling,” he said.
Antonella Grivec was relieved at her lack of nausea after making a first jump into the tunnel.
“I felt it (wobbly) the most when I stepped out of the tunnel. I didn’t like the dribbling I had down my face. They should tell you about that,” said Grivec, here on vacation from Mildura Count Victoria, Australia.
“I did feel free and safe. It felt like you were going so high, but you weren’t 60,000 feet in the air. I would definitely do it again,” she said.
Drooling isn’t that common, said Andrew, who admitted he gets a chuckle when people open their mouths in the tunnel and look like big jowled dogs with their heads out a car window.
The experience felt like the real deal, Paolo Libia said, adding he felt like a bird.
“This is a great experience for someone who doesn’t want to jump out of a plane,” Libia added.
Veteran skydiver Joe Stubbs uses iFLY as a training ground during the skydiving off-season.
“It’s more than fun, it’s a training tool where you can work on your formations and do all sorts of things. It’s another way of challenging myself and I love every aspect of it,” said Stubbs, a pilot who took his first skydiving jump in 2011.
“When something catches my interest it doesn’t take me long to try it. It’s a good way to spend many weekends.”
Joe Pinto had his young cousins from Portugal out for a dive.
“There is nothing like this for them back home. They have had an amazing time. We have been to the CN Tower and (Canada’s) Wonderland, but this is what they will remember,” Pinto said.
Children as young as four can dive in the tunnel and for Andrew it is a favourite part of the job.
“Kids are so gung-ho and have no fear. Because they are smaller, the tunnel is huge for them,” he said.
“Some come in superhero T-shirts and I tell them, ‘Today you are going to fly.’ I love it. It’s like I don’t work a day in my life.”
For more information, go to iflytoronto.com.
HISTORICAL LEAP:
In 1306, Chinese acrobats attached to parachutes jumped off towers as part of their shows.
A French man started dropping animals, including his pet dog, in baskets connected to a parachute in 1783. The trials were a success so he took a turn and his best jump was from 2,400 metres.
In the early 1900s, pilots started to be fit with parachutes in case a plane came into danger. This led to people starting to jump for fun.
During the construction of the CN Tower in 1974, a construction worker made a successful static line jump from a crane on top of the tower. He was fired right afterwards.
In 2014, Alan Eustace made a stratosphere jump from a balloon 40 kilometres above the earth, which is the current world record for the highest skydive. The average jump tops-out at 4 km.
kevin.connor@sunmedia.ca
iFLY brings skydiving indoors | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun
kate upton could have filmed there.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=77-pNVbE0Uw