Flyzone, Western Canada’s first vertical wind tunnel, opens this weekend so Claudia and I headed to Delta to check it out and report for the Globe & Mail. After a short lesson on safety and body positioning, we were fitted with a flight suit, helmet and goggles and led into a giant Plexiglas cylinder with our instructor. From a prone position on the bouncy mesh floor, the propeller below you is sped up until you levitate, at first knee high and then, as the operator revs up the rotor, two meters or more off the ground. Your instructor gives you hand signals, telling you how to improve your body position, and keeps a hand close by to save you ricocheting off the walls.
The sensation is a bit like sticking your head out the window of a car while careening down the freeway, but way stronger and more fun. The tiniest movements can have big effects. We each got a kick out of watching each other’s cheeks and chins ripple in the 200km/h wind.
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