Have you ever wished the Tooth Fairy would leave you some pixie dust under your pillow next time she pays you a visit? I know I have!

Did you ever dream you could fly?

Well, the other day, my dad took me on an adventure and I experienced what flying is really like. I’m not talking about going up in a plane or a helicopter but actually floating in the air like a bird.

Skydiving is probably the closest you can come to real flying but since the law in California states that you have to be at least 18 years old to jump out of an airplane, I had to go for the next best thing; Flying in a wind tunnel.

So, what is a wind tunnel? Well, it’s a circular room, maybe about 15 feet in diameter, but vertically, it goes up about 95 feet. At the top are 5 gigantic fans that push the air through the tunnel at speeds up to 150 miles per hour. It’s meant to feel exactly the way it would feel if you were to jump out of an airplane.

And just like actual skydiving, you don’t just suit up and jump. You have to go through some training so you know what you are doing. After all, one little mistake could spell S-P-L-A-T.

In the training class, you are taught everything from safety and use of hand signals to proper body positioning. Any little movement of your arms or legs will cause you to turn or send you flying off in different directions. Actually it’s a bit of a challenge to maintain the proper position when you’re being bounced around by hurricane force winds. The best position for stability in flight is lying on your stomach with your chin up and your arms and legs slightly bent with your back arched. Thank goodness for all the yoga training I’ve done with my mom.

For my first time out, I managed to do pretty good as you will see in the video below. Yes, that’s me in action.  I’m sure my next flight will be even better. Oh yes, there will be a next time…

Click here to take a Virtual Tour of the Wind Tunnel.    

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 8:59 pm and is filed under Adventure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.