Jumping out of an aircraft is a scary prospect. Try indoor skydiving if you’d like to experience the thrill of skydiving without committing to a parachute ride.
If you want, you can bring some friends, but will they be allowed to join you for the ride?
Find out below!
How Many People Are Allowed For Each Session?
Indoor skydiving centers also set a limit for the number of people in a session. In most cases, each session can include no more than six people.
Read before you go – Can You Indoor Skydive If You Have a Medical Condition?
That means you’ll have to split up if your friend group includes more than six people. It’s not ideal, but indoor skydiving centers take these precautions for your safety.
Can Other People Join You In The Flight?
Each indoor skydiving session includes up to six people. Does that mean all of you can get into the wind tunnel together? Unfortunately, that’s not possible.
So, how many people can do indoor skydiving at once? Could you take a flight together if your friends or family came along? No, it will be only you and your indoor skydiving instructor in the flight chamber.
You can check in, attend the briefings, and gear up as a group, but only one flyer and an instructor are allowed in the flight chamber.
However, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to watch your friends’ flights from the observation area after your time in the wind tunnel.
Indoor Skydiving: Overview
Now that you know how many friends you can bring along for your flight, let’s review how indoor skydiving works.
As the name implies, this exhilarating adventure activity takes place indoors.
But how can you experience freefall indoors?
- Indoor skydiving is made possible by wind tunnel technology.
- A wind tunnel is a large vertical tube originally used by the Wright brothers to study wing shapes.
- In the 1960s, the US Army realized that wind tunnels could be used to simulate freefalling conditions for paratroopers.
- Huge, powerful fans below the vertical wind tunnel draw air from the surrounding environment to create strong, upwards-moving gushes of wind.
- The fast-moving column of air can generate speeds of up to 180mph, enough to ‘float’ a human through drag.
- Floating in the strong winds produces the same feeling as freefalling through the sky without jumping out of a plane.
If you are scared of heights or aren’t comfortable with the risk involved in jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet, consider indoor skydiving. You can get a taste of weightlessness without planes and parachutes.
What Happens During An Indoor Skydiving Session?
You must know what to expect during your first indoor skydiving session.
This section covers what happens during an indoor skydiving session to help you prepare for your first wind tunnel flight experience.
Before the flight
When visiting an indoor skydiving facility, arrive 45–60 minutes before your scheduled flight time.
Arriving early ensures that there’s time to:
- Sign the necessary waiver documentation
- Attend pre-flight safety training and briefing
- Put on your indoor skydiving gear
A flight instructor will conduct the pre-flight safety training and briefing.
They will walk you through proper body positions during the flight, various hand gestures for communication, and the sensations you might feel when flying.
The flight
You can enter the flight chamber after you are briefed and all geared up. An experienced indoor skydiving instructor will join you for the flight.
Wind tunnel fights usually last between one and two minutes; you can take multiple flights.
After your flight
The post-flight experience typically involves de-gearing and a short debrief from your indoor skydiving instructor.
You may also get a chance for another flight if there’s an opening in the wind tunnel schedule.
However, the post-flight experience at an indoor skydiving facility usually involves watching other people in the flight chamber.
You can also take this time to purchase photos and videos of you in the wind tunnel.
Gain deeper insights with our comprehensive beginner’s guide to indoor skydiving, offering valuable information and practical tips to elevate your experience.
Final Thoughts
Knowing what to expect during your first indoor skydiving session allows you to get the most out of your experience.
If you plan indoor skydiving as a group, understand that you can’t take the flight together and plan accordingly.
