Photo courtesy of iFly Singapore
You may have seen the iFly building plenty of times while alighting from Beach Station, Sentosa. You probably wondered what actually went on in there.
Because Sky Diving is not allowed in Singapore, iFly offers you the closest experience you can get to actual Skydiving with its simulated skydiving. It’s the only one of its kind in Asia. Coincidently, we also featured them in our “52 Things to do in Singapore before you die” list.
And Averlynn and I just went down to check iFly out for ourselves the other day!
I snapped a picture of our really dashing instructor during the training. Don’t know if that’s allowed. Whoops!
For those new to skydiving, fret not. Before your actual flight begins, you will be taken through a quick crash course on all you need to know. After a few introductory videos on indoor skydiving, you will go through a series of demonstrations by a certified instructor. He will teach you and then let you practice the different flying stances to take during the flights, as well as other precautionary measures.
iFly is open from ages 7 years and up so it’s really easy to pick up. Skydiving packages start at $79 for Adults and come with two “skydives”.
Averlynn and me before our flight
My first thoughts upon entering the wind tunnel?
HOLYBANANASMONKEYPOO!!
Apologies for the outburst. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest and was the only thing I could hear other than the deafening sound of the wind.
Having been afraid of heights since young, I was mind-blown when I realized I would be free-falling from 12,000ft with nothing other than my nervous smile for protection. I was scared senseless.
Here, this was me before I had my first sky-diving experience:
“Am I really gonna go with this? Really? Would the safety net blow off suddenly? What if the fan gets dislodged, fly up the wind tunnel and shred me into a thousand pieces final destination style?!” Though my calm composure may suggest otherwise, I was a nervous wreck.
Seeing that I’m here sharing this with all you lovely people, it simply shows.. THAT I SURVIVED!
This is me during flight with my most epic expression!
Though I was freaking out the first 10 seconds of the flight, the rest of it was pure exhilaration. I still get scared every time I’m descending a drop but relaxed as soon as I knew I was in the safe hands of my instructor. Easy hand signals like: requests to straighten our legs, keeping our heads up and to simply relax, are used to communicate since talking can’t be done in the tunnel.
All of us were definitely much better at our second flight than the first and we each received a certificate for mastering basic flight! Hurraaayyyy!
Overall, it was a more than pleasant flight experience, though not as easy as apprehended. Haha! It was however exceptionally cold, so for those who suffer the chills easily, do bring along a jacket! Be prepared to also experience the occasional dollop of saliva that stealthily makes its way across your cheeks whenever you smile that bit too widely.
On this day, there were also 2 new Guinness World Records set by iFly Singapore:
Record 1: Having the most number of people in the wind tunnel – 13 Singaporeans, flying at a speed of 193 km/hr for over 5 minutes.
Record 2: The longest indoor free-fall set by Alson Ooi, Joshua Tay and Muhammad Ezrielshah Bin Rahmat. The three men clocked a record-breaking 4 hours and 2 minutes just flying continuously in the wind tunnel. That’s equivalent to circling the circumference of Singapore twice!
Another two records of the most backward somersaults in a minute (record-breaking at 68 a minute) and the most two-way verticals are now awaiting confirmation from Guinness World Records.
iFly Singapore founder and CEO Lawrence Koh presents the Guinness World Record certificate for most flyers in a wind tunnel to the 13-man team. These three pictures above are courtesy of iFly Singapore.
And because it was a special event that day, we had iFly cupcakes too!
iFly Singapore has also launched their proFLYER membership packages, offering both the young and old alike opportunities to pick up indoor sky-diving as a sport, hobby or to simply satisfy that adrenaline crave.
The Basic and Premium packages provide members the chance of embarking on a training schedule with an iFly Singapore Flight Instructor, helping them hone their skills and turn from novices to pros with the necessary coaching.
Here are the rates:
Members are able to save up till S$3,100 as compared to normal flyers who pay for the regular 40 skydives!
I’m sure you guys would also be excited to know that iFly Singapore is looking to have indoor sky-diving as an Education Programme, specially catered to government and non-government schools. Students above the age of 7 can now experience the thrill and physics of skydiving (minus the risks!) at the price only one-fifth of a tandem jump!
To sum my experience up, iFly definitely scores a place in our list of 52 things to do in Singapore before you die!
NOW SPREAD YOUR WINGS AND FLY!
Address: 43 Siloso Beach Walk, Sentosa Island Singapore 099010
Contact: 6571 0000
Also check out these ways to kill boredom in Singapore:
Disclosure: Media Invitation. Pictures by Averlynn and Edlyn unless otherwise stated. Want to be featured on TheSmartLocal? Contact us!
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