Here is a profile I found of not your typical Indoor Skydiver –

Sue Noyes, 55, of Berkeley does her skydiving at 30 feet and under. She climbs inside a vertical wind tunnel and flies in the pressure created by a set of fans.

Why: I have always been an athlete, dancer and a little bit of an adrenaline junkie. Over the past two years, I have had to scale back because of arthritis. Looking for a way to get a fun and challenging workout that was kind to my joints, I checked out indoor skydiving.

Greatest accomplishment: Becoming a Level 2 tunnel flier. I have learned how to fly on my belly, back and in a sitting position as well as a number of transitions like barrel rolls and flips. My goal is to become a Level 3 flier by the end of this year, which means I have to learn how to fly upside down.

Gear you can’t live without: My second-hand helmet with purple wing decals. Once I become a Level 3 flier, I will reward myself with a custom flight suit.

Where you train: I fly at iFly SF Bay in Union City. The instructors make you believe that anything is possible.

Time you get up in the morning: My cat gets me up around 7 a.m.

Best time to train: I like to train in the evenings when the really good fliers are there. I always learn from watching their form and transitions.

Most annoying thing people assume about athletes in your sport: People always say that they do not want to try indoor skydiving because they are afraid of heights. Everyone starts out flying on their belly about 3 feet off the floor with an instructor holding on to them. The instructors make sure that you do not progress to the next level until you are ready.

Advice you give a rookie: Relax and smile and embrace the intoxicating feeling of actually flying. It is amazing.

Article Link: SF GATE -Rising to the challenge of indoor skydiving

If you want give it a whirl yourself — Indoor Skydiving Los Angeles!

Hello all! I’ve always had a fascination with photography and have recently been putting a lot of thought in to picking it up as a hobby. So I started wondering which one of our activities would produce the most exciting pictures and so far Indoor Skydiving has been the most intriguing. A subject suspended twirling in the air is something that you can’t see every day and would be a blast to photograph. Here are some of the best shots I found on the web.

Indoor sports are all the rage these days — indoor soccer, arena football, indoor netball, and even indoor cricket. However, there is one sport that you might have never thought would don the indoor prefix — indoor skydiving. No we’re not high, although it’s not a stretch to say that the creators might have been a little under the influenced. And no, indoor skydiving does not require a very large hangar or a very small plane. Just a very tall wind-tunnel and a trampoline, seriously.

Skydiving is often deemed the ultimate rush, a life changing experience thats pretty much open to everyone — who’s not afraid of heights. Something about jumping from over 5,000ft up just makes a person think twice (more like 15 or 16 times). However, you can get a very similar thrill with indoor skydiving. It consists of a wind tunnel that stretches up to 100ft, a very large fan, and a trampoline like bottom. The fan generates winds from 80 to 150mph that suspend a flier over the trampoline so that the only thing that happens when you fall is that you gently bounce back up (if only real skydiving could have that reassurance).

There are three California locations for indoor skydiving. iFly, who’s catchy tagline is “Where people fly”, have locations in the San Francisco bay area and the Los Angeles area. Skydive Perris also has a vertical wind tunnel in Perris, CA.