PAGE 48
MARCH 2012
Susie Does Tunnel Time By Kelly Kingman
It’s Susie’s birthday which means we usually get together to do something fun and this year was no exception. She had al- ready decided she was going to Perris Valley to the wind tunnel for a session of indoor skydiving. Skydive Perris, or the Drop Zone as some know it, is California’s only Skydiving Resort Center; home of the largest fleet of sky- diving aircraft on the west coast and an awesome on-site indoor skydiving facility. My good friend Mary is an instructor at the tunnel and has gifted me with the experi- ence a few birthdays ago. Simply incredible, this 96-foot tall vertical wind tunnel allows you to enjoy the sensation of freefall without ever going in an airplane. I arrived at the Drop Zone and ran up the stairs to the top of the tunnel where the entrance is. Su- sie and Tawny, her daughter with
BF Ryan were in the instructional class. There you are taught how to position your body which controls forward, backward, up and down movement while you are flying, basically steering yourself. After the class they got dressed in spe- cials suits, helmets, goggles and earplugs, yes earplugs because 100 mile an hour wind is noisy! Susie went first. Oh how I re-
member this, it brings back memo- ries! She started on the floor inside
the tunnel which is a sturdy type of screen. They start the engines and the wind begins to blow. The air flow is manually controlled by one of the instructors watching your every move. Then with the aide of Mary by her side, Susie begins to float effortlessly slowly maneuver- ing herself about the area. Typical flying sessions are between 1 and 2 minutes in length and they rec- ommend a 4 minute session per Continued on P. 49
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