How to Fly Via a Free-Fall Simulation
Created | Updated Jun 24, 2002
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams has this to say about flying:
There is an art, it says, or rather a knack to flying. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss. Pick a nice day, it suggests, and try it. The first part is easy. All it requires is simply the ability to throw yourself forward with all your weight, and the willingness not to mind that it's going to hurt. That is, it's going to hurt if you fail to miss the ground.
Actually, there is a pretty safe way of trying this, and succeeding. In Sundsvall, Sweden, you will find northern Europe's only (at the time of writing) free-fall simulator.
Flying Without Wings
Sundsvalls Vindtunnel Förening (Sundsvall's Vertical Windtunnel Club) have constructed what looks like a huge hair drier made of two Rolls Royce V12 engines and a propeller from an Antonov-2 aircraft. Combined, they create a 1200 horsepower air stream, blowing right up into the sky.
You are equipped with a safety suit, a helmet, eye protectors and ear plugs. Then off you go - throw yourself forward into the jet stream, and try to find your balance on top of it. Up you go, about 4 metres (approximately 13ft) - and you are flying!
Will it Hurt if I Miss?
You can miss the air stream when throwing yourself forward, and you can lose your balance, but the fan itself is covered by a strong net, and the area surrounding the construction is padded.
This sort of simulator is used by parachute jumpers for practising free fall techniques, and the experience is very similar to a real free fall - except that you don't really fall, you float on the air stream, rather like an eagle.
