Creating unique custom-made vertical wind tunnels in the world to provide the best flying experience is Aerodium’s mission. Find out the how the world’s tallest and biggest indoor skydiving tunnels was created.
BY: Ivars Beitans, Chairman of the Board of AERODIUM
How Tom Cruise came-up with the idea in creating the largest wind tunnel
For Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise and his team needed to shoot a HALO jump scene by jumping out of an airplane at 30,000 feet with a special breathing gear. Due to the risks involved, the crew recommended that they train on the ground first to gain confidence for the actual jump. Thus, the studio requested a portable wind tunnel to be installed onsite for rehearsals. After testing Aerodium’s tunnel, Cruise was very excited and asked if we could build something bigger. We accepted the challenge and built the world’s largest open-air wind tunnel in record-breaking time.
Trying the tunnel for the first time is like going into a cage with a tiger – you don’t know what to expect, but your curiosity takes over. Wow doesn’t even begin to describe the feeling of seven guys flying together! We were smiling from ear to ear with our emotions in overload. For the first time, we were chasing each other in the enormous flight area like kids. The open-air environment brought us the joy of being the closest thing to real skydiving we had ever experienced.
How a Shaikh from Bahrain conceptualised the creation of indoor base jumping
After first meeting our Bahraini client, Shaikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Khalifa in 2011, he showed his keenness and willingness to make something exceptional, yet superior to all existing wind tunnels. The team has proposed to create a very tall and visually appealing glass flight chamber (12m), at that time was the tallest in the world which was installed at the Gravity Indoor Skydiving facility. During this conversation, Shaikh Mohammed brought up the idea of having an office on top of the building where he could just jump into the tunnel from above. After 30 seconds of thinking, I answered, “That’s cool! Sure, let’s make it happen!” This short discussion led us in designing and building our first world BASE jumping chamber for “Gravity,” whilst keeping safety as a top priority. It has now become a standard for all recircular tunnels we build worldwide, and other companies have started copying this invention.
