Indoor Skydiving: The Opposite of Free Fall...

I have been skydiving before. Falling out of the sky at 250 miles an hour while strapped to a stranger's back, that is what I did, but indoor? I was a little apprehensive.  Skydivers have to practice and many of them use indoor skydiving places simulating free fall. I realize that the stream of air pushes a body off the ground probably about 10-15 feet, maybe 20 if you are a professional, but it's the landing I was concerned about. Just like skydiving, the landing is dangerous. Before beginning the session you have to learn to "tuck and roll" into the mats. This is difficult for me and probably for most people. I don't normally fall by curling up into a ball and rolling. I am not a stunt person. I think most people have a tendency to put their hands out in front of them to cushion the blow.

In the case of indoor skydiving, putting your hands out can create serious injury. So we had to practice throwing ourselves against the walls and tucking and rolling. I discovered that no matter how padded those walls are, it still hurts a little bit. The walls are cushioned, as is one layer of the outside floor. The middle there is a circle with lots of grates and it's kind of springy. Looking down underneath is extremely scary because you can see the propellers. I felt a little nausea looking down in it and it scared me really badly at first.  

I decided to keep going, plus I was in the room and they had already shut the door, so there was no turning back.  When the fans came on the room became very very loud. I was glad they made us put on ear plugs. The air flow was intense and it became very chilly. I was the third to go, so I got to watch the other two people go. They took their positions and jumped. The air seemed to do the rest. The instructor used hand signals to tell us what to do, if we needed to bend our legs, relax our bodies, or move out of the way of the operator's window. Luckily, no one actually stepped in the way of the operator's window. 

When it was my turn to go, I was a bit hesitant. All I could think about was the giant propellers under me, the off chance that I could break my arm or neck and of course, even though I had a helmet on, closed head injuries. I didn't even notice in the next second when my body was lifted weightlessly off the ground and I was flying. Really flying. If I bent my legs more, I went up higher. If I tensed up, I sank. Luckily the instructor was there the entire time to guide us and lead us. The experience was amazing. He even helped me do twists and turns and at one point flipped me upside down.  We were in the circle for 22 minutes and we all took turns in order. Also, unlike real skydiving I did not hear myself saying weakly, "when do we land?"  

This was where we went:  

http://www.niagarafreefall.com/freefall/index.htm