iFLY Dallas
8380 S.H. 121, Frisco
214/618-4359
iflydallas.com
Hours: iFLY opens this month. Check the website for flight time reservation dates. Open 10am–10pm Monday–Thursday; 10am–11pm Friday; 9am–11pm Saturday; 9am–10pm Sunday. Reservations are highly recommended.
Admission: $59.95 package for first-time flyers; $269.95 family package for up to five people.
Parking: Free
You know the feeling: that drop in your stomach on a rollercoaster’s first steep slope. But only skydivers know the lighter-than-air sensation that comes with a high-speed descent from thousands of feet up. Experience the rush of free-falling sans parachute at iFLY, the new indoor skydiving simulator opening in mid-November outside Frisco’s Stonebriar Centre.
Even if you scribbled the real thing off your bucket list, you must check out this aerial sport, which is a safe alternative for adults and kids as young as 3. The flight chamber measures 14 feet wide by 48 feet tall, but you’ll stay only a few feet off the ground. Four 350-horsepower fans generate winds of up to 200 mph and blow the air through a recirculating wind tunnel.
The newest location in Frisco is one of nearly 30 facilities worldwide and only the second in Texas after one opened at the company’s Austin headquarters in January 2013. Each person gets a training session, flight suit and gear rental, a personalized flight certificate and two one-minute flight sessions, which is the time equivalent of two actual skydives. More packages are available with longer sessions, but the whole process takes about an hour and 15 minutes. Want to remember your kids’ cheeks flapping in the wind? iFLY offers photos and a high-definition video of your flight.
No experience is necessary to start, and with balance, coordination and practice, any flyer can work their way up iFLY’s seven levels to practice 65 different maneuvers. In fact, in 2009, a team of siblings, Justin and Kayla Tinucci, then 10 and 13, held the Guinness World Record for longest indoor free fall in an iFLY wind tunnel.
First-time flyers, not to worry. You’ll start out simple by developing stability in the wind tunnel. All beginners fly one-on-one with a fully certified instructor who remains close by, ready to grab onto the handles of your flight suit.
The wind speed is adjusted according to each flyer’s height, weight and skill level, so more training sessions would be required if you wanted to fly side-by-side with your child. The trainer will communicate through hand signals you learned in the training session, such as to keep your chin up and arch your back. If the instructor senses that you’re nervous, he’ll flash the hang loose sign to relax and enjoy the ride.
Published November 2013
