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“Starships were meant to fly, and now, so am I.”
I have a very pretty bucket list.
Most of them are really #yolo (you only live once) so I can see how they would eventually lead to the bucket. Also you must always hashtag #yolo if not you are not cool. I am digressing. My point is: I have a selection of things I want to do before I meet my mini end and skydiving tops the list.
My previous top to-do (kidnapping Alexis Knapp and making her sing for me) got overwritten after the famous Redbull Stratos Jump. I stayed through the lousy advertisements and boring pre-speeches and waited till he did the actual jump. Granted, I clicked “x” after 1 minute of just him plunging into seemingly endless skies, but it stuck to me that I cannot be content with my life until I skydive. And finally, I had the chance.
Strategically located near Beach Station, iFly Singapore promises a (literally) hair-raising good time. For the uninitiated, it is a vertical wind tunnel powered with technology that replicates a skydiving experience. Enter in by a side door and you will find yourself immediately swept up by the airspeed, which can be anything from 150km/h to 300km/h. Its for anyone from first-time newbies to seasoned flyers who use it as a training platform for airborne stunts.
I had the delightful chance of giving it a whirl (heh heh expect many lousy air-related jokes) with a fellow TSL writer, Malcolm and it was an experience of a lifetime. We arrived 1.5 hours before our stipulated flight time for the flight training and instructor briefing. We were guided into a dark room after being given our fancy iFly pass which I was extremely excited getting. We were shown a short clip tempting you into the skies beyond ensues, baiting you for the experience you’re about to have.
After that it was another room a la cinematic style, complete with a big screen and two training benches. A video clip is shown on the hand signals that the instructors will use in-flight and what to do respectively. It all seems easy and fun and it made me even more jumpy for the actual experience. A cute instructor, Jery, came in and asked us for a demonstration of our flying postures and we were finally good to go.
We left the room to a dramatic plane take-off soundtrack and found ourselves finally suiting up! We put on our jumpsuit and helmets, looking silly but absolutely flight ready. There was an instructor-student set before us and we watched in hopeless admiration as the instructor started performing stunts. I can be sold on one of his moves, where he kicks himself off the entrance and propels himself into the upper echelons of the tunnel. New #yolo bucket wish!
When it came to our turn, Malcolm went first and it was quite the sight. He was speeding around abysmally at first (it was highly entertaining to watch heh) and when he managed to get the hang of it, it was my turn so he tragically had to wait for the next 45 seconds. My first turn was a disaster. I couldn’t react fast enough to the instructor’s hand signals and was aimlessly propelling upwards and Jery had to forcibly grab me down. I was a little nervous and couldn’t breathe well, all I knew was I was having fun being sent flying around uncontrollably. I was sent out after 45 seconds and Jery calmed me down and assured me I’ll be okay and Malcolm resumed his turn.
Malcolm finally managed to get into this terrific flight position and the both of them held hands and defied gravity together. Despite the first bad attempt, I was really eager to get back in so I was impatiently waiting for him to be done. And finally, round two! It was amazing. I am quite sure I mistook Jery’s hand signals as usual but my body is smarter than me and it figured out the position. So in no time at all, we were spinning round and round and I think I can cry from the happiness heh. I felt like a Boeing, felt too cool for gravity, felt like I was on top of the world. Nothing is in your head but the comfortable drone of the generator and your body feeling weightless. I felt like I was 10kg at best. No more insecurities!
I was sad when I had to come down and I was sooooo tempted to sign up for a package there and then but while I prepare myself to be miserably work my way through their package price, you should hop over to iFly today and give it a whirl! Not only do you get to brag about it afterwards (I cannot shut up to my friends, who are now ignoring my very sad flight jokes – well they can’t fly like a G6 like me so), you get to experience skydiving before taking it outdoors.
We waited around for the certs and chatted with the instructor Jonathan who told us about funny instances of quirky flyers.There were apparently a Japanese filming crew who went “haik!” at everything, making a great show of understanding all the instructions, and simply goofed it through when they were actually flying. Oh the Japanese, what would we do without their silly humor.
Jery presented me with the cert and I had the biggest smile in the world. Now I have proof of my experience so I can rub it in more people’s faces! Also it is really fancy and I like clouds so it’s going to be on my wall for a while. I truly never knew skydiving could be this fun until iFly.
“For once you have tasted flight, you will walk the Earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.”
Starships were meant to fly, and now, so am I.
(lousy air-related puns ends here)
Verdict: 7/10
It’s a great experience for those interested in sky-diving and the closets it gets to doing so in Singapore. Friends who have went for real sky-diving vouch for its legitimacy. For those without any interest in skydiving just wanting try something new, it’s still a decent option. Just note that some will find the attraction pricey.
Check out more TSL iFly Singapore reviews.
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This post was brought to you by iFly Singapore.
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