Indoor Skydiving with Airkix!

Back in December I turned 21, I got very drunk, as you do on your 21st as I was out with friends. You have got to love a manager that gives you drinks that will make you think you’re walking on the walls.

The day after I wasn’t well at all, wasn’t a good thing as I had a Birthday meal with all my family that evening, I didn’t eat well at all. It didn’t help that I was also coming down with the flu. Even with that I still had a great time.
One of the gifts I got was a voucher to go Indoor Skydiving with Airkix from my Aunty Lorinder and Uncle Andy.
This past Saturday I cashed in on that voucher and had one of the best experiences of my life!

Building Diagram

I was originally planning on going with my mate Kevin (He Needs a Horse) Pike, unfortunately his girl friend came down so he was unavailable, and I looked into other options but anyone I asked was working.
In the end it came down to just me and Dad with my step mum Nina taking pictures and video.
We arrived nice and early and got ourselves booked in, we then went for a wonder and got food and drink. We then came back and went to the viewing area to look at the chamber. I didn’t expect the chamber to be as small as it was but it did go very high.

Airkix Buliding

The chamber is in the very centre of the building with air being pumped around the sides and then up the middle through the chamber at 110mph to 150mph.

Dad and I left Nina by the viewing area and headed to the place we had to wait. Dad was looking at the pictures on the walls of others who had been in the chamber. He pointed out that streakers had been in there and that there was a picture of two nude women in the chamber.

Our instructor Joel then came out and showed us a video about hand signals and so forth. It’s actually a lot simpler than you may think.
We then kited up and headed up the chamber. We all sat in the chamber seating area and one at a time we went in. There were 3 others with us as well but we were all having different times in the chamber depending on what was booked. We were booked into a Family Flight, so we had 10 minutes split with up to 5 people. So if I had a group of 5 it would have been 2 goes of 1 minute each. As it was just me and Dad we were allowed 2 goes of 2 minutes and 30 seconds each.
Dad went in first and he floated around inside having a good time. After his time he landed back in the seating area and it was my turn in.

Dad in Flight

I stood in the door, held my arms under my chin and lifted my head, I then fell forward into the chamber and opened my arms. The wind caught me and took me into the air. Joel helped me get positioned and helped me move. It turned out that I went the highest in our group first time in; I was pretty impressed with my self. I also learnt how to control my turning before my time was up and I had to land.

Me in Flight

On the second run we had an extra option, for £5 more we could have Joel grab hold of us and spin before lifting us off with him into the top of the chamber spinning up and down. Dad and I had already said to each other we weren’t going to bother but after the first 2 people in front of us did it, we kinder felt we just had to do it as well. Dad then went in for his second go and was able to get the hang of his turning and went higher than last time, when the clock hit 30 seconds Joel grabbed hold and span before shooting up the chamber and down again a few times making dad very dizzy. Then it was my turn again, I entered the chamber and tried to move but I felt I had less control as I did before. Turned out that Joel had left my side for a little bit, he was squatting down to one side, he then stood up, grabbed me and chucked me higher up. He then tried to teach me how to move back and forth but I didn’t quite get the hang of it. 30 seconds left on the clock and Joel grabbed hold, the winds went up in speeds and Joel span while holding me. After about 3 spins we launched into the air and wow what a rush it was, up then down about 3 or 4 times spinning as I went, absolutely amazing so worth the £5.
That was it after that, we left the chamber and gave back our kit and got a certificate with what we learnt ticked off.

If I could do it again I would, and if you get the chance I would defiantly suggest trying it yourself, I will include a link to the Airkix website at the bottom.

A DVD was included of the flight with the capability to edit the footage, so when I have the footage that Nina recorded I will edit it all together and upload it to Facebook and/or YouTube so look out for that.

Next in line now is Sphereing, which is booked for the 30th of May, so I get to be harnessed in a ball and rolled down a hill, so I’m looking forward to that.

Well that’s all for now so this is Matty.D signing off.

Airkix website.