Scaredy cats and adrenaline junkies unite! iFLY Indoor Skydiving takes their visitors on an indoor skydiving adventure that won’t require you to jump out of a plane or fall hundreds of miles per hour towards the ground with a parachute and some guy strapped to your back. iFLY is helping their visitors, some as young as 8 years old, to take the leap into 360-degree indoor skydiving that will look and feel just like a real skydive jump thanks to mobile VR and a nifty helmet.
Sky High VR
iFLY Indoor Skydiving recently announced that they now have 28 iFLY skydiving simulator tunnels and are looking to open more in select locations across the United States. People who are afraid of heights and flying in planes are able to skip those altogether by bravely doing an indoor skydive with a trained instructor and inside a safe environment.
The best part of the “jump” for nervous folks and those on the fence about taking the plunge might be knowing that even though they’ll be seeing themselves jumping out of a plane, see the world getting larger as they fall, and the wind will be giving you the falling and floating sensations, it’s all set in a wind tunnel on the ground with a safety net beneath it. Thanks, sensory immersion!
Adventure seekers and risk takers will absolutely love that they’ll get the rush of adrenaline from experiencing a new adventure and the 360-views of the indoor skydive, but won’t have to commit to having to learn how to skydive with a parachute for real or having to pay a huge price to do it. iFLY is much easier on the wallet with select packages starting at $20 on up and is a fun and exciting group and family outing or a heck of a date night idea.
Watch the iFLY Virtual Reality trailer down below!
Fitness Potential
Skydiving competition is a sport that requires intense body control, flexibility, and strength to free fall with grace and style, just ask Sydney Kennett, an 11-year-old indoor skydiver sponsored by iFLY. This indoor skydiving experience, however, is not going to involve flips and team maneuvers because there’s VR tech covering your eyes and the instructor’s got to keep you balanced so you don’t go flying into something. So, risk takers be warned, you’re likely not going to be showing off any acrobatics you may know in this VR experience.
Untethered
iFLY uses a Gear VR headset that’s attached to a safety helmet, which isn’t being done by anyone else. Having an untethered experience is exactly what free falling fliers will get when they jump and fall 13,000 feet in this indoor skydive sim. “The idea of a virtual reality flight experience has been a dream of the iFLY brand for more than two decades, but the technology wasn’t there,” said Dave Kirchhoff, iFLY CEO.
Having the mobile headset instead of a tethered headset works well for indoor skydiving because it can be easily swapped out between fliers and is more cost effective and easier to set up than higher end headsets. Kirchhoff explains, “VR headsets are nothing new, and it’s something many of us have all experienced at a trade show or event, but nobody is applying VR technology to real-life scenarios like this. We are truly pushing boundaries to make this iFLY experience one-of-a-kind by making the dream of flight more tangible and more real than ever before.”
We’ve heard of virtual reality being used underwater to simulate scuba diving, we’ve seen it being used to simulate walking, riding a quadricycle, and even as a stand-in for a tank, Pegasus, and bird. Now, we’re seeing skydiving incorporating it and we’ve come to the question: Is there anything VR can’t do? If you know the answer let us know!
Where to Follow iFLY Indoor Skydiving
You can find iFLY Indoor Skydiving on their website, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube channel.