Indoor skydiving

A vertical wind tunnel (VWT) is a wind tunnel which moves air up in a vertical column. Unlike standard wind tunnels which have test sections that are oriented horizontally, as experienced in level flight, a vertical orientation enables gravity to be countered by drag instead of lift, as experienced in an aircraft spin or by a skydiver at terminal velocity.

Although vertical wind tunnels have been built for aerodynamic research, the most high-profile are those used as recreational wind tunnels, frequently advertised as "indoor skydiving" or bodyflight, which have also become a popular training tool for skydivers.

A recreational wind tunnel enables human beings to experience the sensation of flight without planes or parachutes, through the force of wind being generated vertically. Air moves upwards at approximately 195 km/h (120 mph or 55 m/s), the terminal velocity of a falling human body belly-downwards. A vertical wind tunnel is frequently called 'indoor skydiving' due to the popularity of vertical wind tunnels among skydivers, who report that the sensation is extremely similar to skydiving. The human body 'floats' in midair in a vertical wind tunnel, replicating the physics of 'body flight' or 'bodyflight' experienced during freefall.

The first human to fly in a vertical wind tunnel was Jack Tiffany in 1964 at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base located in Greene and Montgomery County, Ohio.

In 1982 Jean St-Germain, an inventor from Drummondville, Quebec, sold a vertical wind tunnel concept to both Les Thompson and Marvin Kratter, both of whom went on to build their own wind tunnels. Soon after, St Germain sold the franchising rights to Kratter for $1.5 million. Originally known as the "Aérodium", it was patented as the "Levitationarium" by Jean St. Germain in the USA in 1984 and 1994 under Patent Nos. 4,457,509 and 5,318,481, respectively.

St. Germain then helped build two wind tunnels in America. The first vertical wind tunnel, built solely for a commercial use, opened in the summer of 1982 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Later that same year, a second wind tunnel opened in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Both facilities opened and operated under the name of Flyaway Indoor Skydiving. In 2005 the 15-year Flyaway Manager Keith Fields purchased the Las Vegas facility and later renamed it "Vegas Indoor Skydiving".

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Wikipedia