It was taken last weekend at Airkix in Manchester where we had a go an indoor skydiving (by we, I mean everyone but me ;-)).
It was an amazing experience and one which I would definitely recommend doing it at least once.
I know what you’re thinking and it’s also not nearly as expensive as you might think with prices starting at £29.99 for two flights for a first time flyer. As well as the actual flights, the price includes a full training and safety briefing by a qualified instructor before you enter the wind tunnel as well as a certificate afterwards.
While they were doing their pre-flight training, I sat and relaxed in the viewing area and watched the group before us have their go and was surprised by how young some of the children were – you can do this as young as four years old and actually, the younger children seemed to be the ones who were just getting in there and getting on with it.
I think I was more nervous than them when they walked into the wind tunnel together all suited up in their flight suits. I was so worried that Master Frugal especially would be too scared to do it as the day before he’d upset himself when he was too scared to go on a ride at Legoland.
I needn’t have bothered worrying though as he was first in and although he was clearly nervous at first and a bit wobbly, he soon got over it with the help of Chris the instructor. He finished his first flight and went back to wait in the wind tunnel for his second flight and the look of sheer happiness and pride on his face genuinely brought tears to my eyes. He was so pleased that he’d done it!
Miss Frugal was just as nervous but she got straight in there as well and I think we were all surprised by how well she took to it. In no time at all she was flying higher than the majority of the group and doing it well!
Mr Frugal was next and he is clearly not built for this – he needed a lot of support from Chris on his first flight but he got through it and I could see Chris giving him instructions to improve while he was in flight.
Everyone’s next flights were even better, they all seemed much improved so they’d obviously taken on board what Chris had been telling them and the boys even did the high flight where you speed up to the top of the wind tunnel and back down again. Miss Frugal decided that this wasn’t for her so she stayed lower amazing me with how good she was.
After the flights they were all given their certificates but they’re not just the usual certificate, they have tick boxes that Chris filled out as he spoke to everyone in the group individually. The tick boxes are for each of the different things they managed to do while they were in flight and Chris gave everyone personalised advice – Miss Frugal looked extremely smug when she realised that she got more ticks than the others and was told how good she was but the smile was soon wiped off her face by her brother who pointed out that she might be good but she didn’t dare do the high flight!
On our way out we had a quick go on the simulator cars which are amazingly real and a lot of fun to go on!
We loved our Airkix experience so thank you very much to the lovely staff who let us go along and try it out! Both kids have asked if they can take a friend as a birthday treat which works our cheaper than a party so I’m all for it!
