Indoor Skydiving Tricks Explained

Flying on all axes, carving around the tunnel in dynamic lines, flipping from your feet to flying head down and back again – there are so many cool wind tunnel tricks out there to learn! Truthfully, indoor skydiving opens up a realm of body flight possibilities. However, much like skydiving, there is a learning curve and a specific flight progression you will need to follow in order to safely perform wind tunnel tricks. 

Interested in taking your flying to the next level? Here is how to do indoor skydiving tricks.

What to Expect Your First-Time Indoor Skydiving

Without proper training, indoor skydiving can be dangerous. Before your first flight in the wind tunnel, you will go through a safety and training briefing with one of our instructors. During this training, you will learn about the proper first-time indoor skydiving body position, as well as the hand signals the instructor will use to communicate with you while you are flying.

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After this briefing, you will be provided with flight gear and taken into the wind tunnel. While in the tunnel, you’ll receive hands-on assistance from the tunnel instructor who will teach you how to fly your body. 

It’s unlikely that you will do many wind tunnel tricks your first time trying indoor skydiving. Although, with time and practice, you can certainly learn how to do indoor skydiving tricks on your own!

What Does It Take To Do Indoor Skydiving Tricks?

At Skydive Perris, we adhere to the International Bodyflight Association’s training standards and progression requirements. In order to learn wind tunnel tricks, you will need to master the prerequisite skills. 

Initially, you will learn how to fly stable and balanced on your belly before moving to other orientations. From there, you can learn to fly on your back. Once you have mastered back-flying, you’ll then learn to fly in a head-up orientation (like you are sitting up in a chair), and once you’re comfortable head up, you can learn to fly head down! During your progression, you can also learn how to do front flips and backflips as well as dynamic flying, like carving.

Wind Tunnel Tricks You Can Do as a Beginner Flyer

If you pick up on the basics of body flight relatively quickly – and your instructor feels you’re ready to move forward with learning wind tunnel tricks – they will begin to assist you with different maneuvers. You’ll learn how to fly up and down and control your flight speed by adjusting the surface area you expose to the wind; how to turn with your upper body and lower body; and how to perform side slides.

Another wind tunnel trick that you can do as a beginner is a “high flight.” This is when the instructor will fly you to the top of the wind tunnel very quickly, allowing you to experience what it feels like to fly like a pro!

Wind Tunnel Tricks You Can Do as an Intermediate Flyer

Most intermediate flyers will have the necessary skills and bodyflight control to perform flips safely and to fly in multiple orientations. As an intermediate flyer, you can also begin working on 2-way Vertical Formation flying or Mixed Formation flying.

Indoor Skydiving Tricks for Advanced Flyers

Advanced flyers can learn how to do indoor skydiving tricks like Half Eagle, Full Reverse Eagle, and Head Up or Head Down Breakers. They may also perform dynamic movements within the wind tunnel with other advanced flyers. Please note that these wind tunnel tricks require a lot of skill and should not be attempted by novice flyers.

Tips on How to Get Better at Indoor Skydiving

Perfect practice makes perfect. To improve your indoor skydiving skills you will need to focus on first mastering the basics and then fine-tuning your flying technique. Becoming a skilled indoor skydiver won’t happen overnight: it requires practice, consistency, time, and coaching.

Take Your Indoor Skydiving Tricks To The Sky

Indoor skydiving isn’t just a thrilling “ride.” The wind tunnel is frequently used by skydivers as a training tool. Because one minute in the tunnel is essentially equivalent to one skydive – and you can fly consistently for minutes at a time – flying in the wind tunnel is a more efficient and cost-effective way to perfect many skydiving maneuvers and body flight skills. In fact, the Navy Seals utilize thorough tunnel training prior to making their first skydive!

The wind tunnel is a valuable tool, and if you’re looking to start your skydiving journey, you might be interested to know that Skydive Perris is the only dropzone in Southern California that offers 20 minutes of tunnel time as an integrated part of our Skydiving Program! There’s no time like the present. So, why not start your indoor skydiving journey today?

Book your first flight with Skydive Perris. You’ll be learning wind tunnel tricks in no time!

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