12-12-2015

Posted by IBA

The 32ft Tunnel

The 32ft Tunnel

Indoor Skydiving is about to get a massive new addition. Imagine… Dynamic 8 way or 16 way FS in the tunnel. The dream is about to become your reality! The engineering team at SkyVenture, the world’s leading designer and builder of vertical wind tunnels, has created by far, the largest wind tunnel in the world. Mark Arlitt, VP of Engineering, had this to say,

“The immensity of the task of designing what will be by far the world’s largest vertical wind tunnel was daunting, but for the most experienced vertical wind tunnel design team in the world it was not a task too big.  Teamwork was the key!  During a brainstorming session that lasted for 3 straight days, the team came up with concept after concept that made it doable.  One of the enabling concepts was to break many of the gigantic components down into smaller and simpler subcomponents that repeat and stack, using proven technologies from our existing wind tunnel designs.  This saved a huge amount of engineering time, kept components easier to ship and install and all but ensures predictable performance.”

So what are some of the specs of this turbine titan?

32’ (9.75m) in diameter with 16 (!!!!) fans.

The Inlet Contractor, the funnel-shaped piece that connects the plenum to the flight chamber, is composed of 80 fiberglass pieces constructed into 3 tiers rising up 38’ (11.6m) to where it meets the glass flight chamber.

The Primary Diffuser, the piece above the flight chamber glass that widens out to effectively and evenly slow down the wind speed, is made of 2 tiers of 20 pieces of fiberglass.

The components are currently all being shipped to Abu Dhabi where they will be assembled starting in early 2016.

A tunnel this size certainly has implications on many levels.

On the Flyer side, we wonder:

How will the size of this tunnel affect the sports disciplines we currently have?

16 way Formation Skydiving has been a fixture of competition skydiving for years as two previously competitive 8-way teams joined together. With the opportunity to practice in a wind tunnel, will we see this discipline increase in popularity? As we have seen records in 4 and 8 way FS smashed in the past few years, we are sure to see the same in 16 way.

How will the rules need to be re-written for Artistic events to utilize all this available flying space? What about new disciplines, like Dynamic 8 way? Is there a possibility to fly lines with 7 other people? Or is there interest 4 way FreeFly?

And on the Instructor side:

The tunnel Instructors will be trained by the IBA and it is the duty of the IBA to prepare how they will be trained and what processes may need to be modified. We asked Rusty Lewis, Director of Safety and Training, for his thoughts.

  1. How will a tunnel this size change the way you train instructors to spot?

I would say right now, most of what we do will remain the same, largely due to the fact that it works and the system we train is robust, not discounting the fact that every time a new tunnel design is produced and starts operating there’s certainly amount of “new territory” to explore. No doubt that this will occur once the 32’ design is open and available for us to run some tests.

We are planning to spend some time in the new facility to evaluate how we currently train Instructors and we will see then what needs to change immediately and what can run its course and, in time, what adjustments will need to be made. 

  1. What kind of rules can we expect for teaching first-time flyers? Will instructors be able to let go of their students?

I think a lot of what we see today will still remain as we get more familiar with the new design and its intricacies, it will allow us to adapt our current system where necessary. 

Part of training new Instructors is teaching them how to understand how students react in the airflow. Over the years that we have been providing training courses, it has allowed us to collect a lot of data based upon real scenarios. When we deliver the message to new Instructors, we aim to provide the tools in order for them to feel comfortable releasing students when it is appropriate to do so and under the right circumstances. I believe that even in a larger facility, this will still be the mind set for the staff. As long as the criteria is met for flyers to be released, then they will be. 

  1. Will multiple instructors be able to safely take in different students at once?

That’s a tough question to answer right now. We have experimented in the past in other facilities to see the feasibility of doing something like this and although not impossible, it is tricky. Each student is very unique with how their body adapts and flies in the wind. Matching two people together for the sake of similar wind speeds is one hurdle and typically the easiest… matching people that have the same reactions while flying is the hardest part. With that said, we will be doing some testing to see what may or may not be possible once we can get in the wind!

 

Anxious to fly in this behemoth? Stay tuned to tunnelflight.com for more information!

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The IBA distinguishes between the sport of indoor skydiving (engaged in by patrons with IBA accounts seeking approval of flight skills though the IBA's Flight Progression System) and recreational flying (engaged in by entertainment customers who do not intend to pursue approval of skills). While indoor skydiving is safe for all ages, the inherent risk of the activity is necessarily greater for those engaging in the sport of indoor skydiving, particularly as they progress through more sophisticated maneuvers.