A few weeks ago, I got the opportunity to see just what it would feel like to fly at iFLY when my daughter and I visited. We donned flight suits, faced our fears (have I mentioned I have a fear of heights?) and made some amazing memories.

After watching the information and safety video, our instructor, Joey, reviewed the signals and told us just what to do. He offered some support and encouragement as we were rather wary and a bit nervous.

After all the prep was complete, it was time to enter the wind tunnel. We each had two 60-second flights. The instructor is in the tunnel with you the whole time, and a second iFLY instructor sits at the control panel and controls everything, including wind speed.

So how did this go given that I’m not a fan of heights?

Surprisingly well, actually.

The key for me is that there is no drop off. You enter the wind tunnel and the wind blows you upward. There’s no falling, no leaving your stomach on a different level from your body with a big jump.

The wind tunnel is vertical, and below is a machine that produces the column of air you float on in the flight chamber. I may have geeked out a bit at the science behind the experience. My kid may have been embarrassed by that.

And on the second flight, which is a bit easier and a bit more fun than the first because you have an idea of what’s going on, the real fun began. Joey started me spinning and we went up, high. And fast. That’s called high flying, a technical term.

I will confess that I was a bit nervous. I was a tad queasy from the spinning, but I’m prone to motion sickness. My tween, sprightly young thing that she is, felt no worse for wear.  That said, it was awesome.

It’s a little bizarre to watching your baby girl, you know, flying. Surreal, in fact. But very cool.

It was just the two of us, which made for a fabulous bonding experience, but not so much a picture taking experience, but check out these cuties from the iFly website:

Okay, I probably didn’t look nearly so chill as they do.

And the one that was incredibly chill was our awesome instructor Joey. From showing us the different size flight suits (they have one big enough to fit Shaq, who has also done this, to ones for little kids because you can fly starting at age 3) to the awesome skills and tricks he did for us in the tube after our flights were complete, he was great.  He made us feel safe the entire time.

At the conclusion of our experience, he presented us with certificates. Here’s mine:

I’m thinking of having it framed.

And yes, I know that there are boxes without checkmarks. There are numerous skills to learn and work on. Flying is a sport and you can move up different levels at iFLY, almost like in karate.

One of our favorite parts was watching the group of fliers after us, and watching the instructors do their amazing tricks.

Even if you only go once, it’s a unique experience totally different from anything else I’ve ever done. Our iFLY Indoor Skydiving adventure was a truly unique bonding experience with my daughter. She’s still talking about it, which is always a great sign.

iFLY has two locations in Chicago (Naperville and Rosemont) and other locations throughout the country and the world. You can find a full list here.

While flying is fun, it isn’t free. The cost is something to keep in mind. At our location, the basic first-time flyer package starts at $69.95.

Disclosure: We were able to try out iFLY for free and all opinions are our own; we did not receive any compensation.

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