Worlds fastest vertical wind tunnel which simulates sky diving experience

(1 Feb 2006)
1. Various of Airkix instructor Andy Godwin flying in wind tunnel
2. Various of underneath shot of person flying in wind tunnel
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Andy Godwin, Airkix Instructor:
"This is the closest thing to the real thing. It's like the great outdoors, indoors."
4. Exterior of wind tunnel
5. Air vents inside wind tunnel that channel the wind
6. Exterior of wind tunnel
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Simon Ward, CEO of Airkix (soundbite overlayed with the following two shots)
"So it comes up through the bottom, through an inlet contractor the squeezes the air into the speed of where we are in the flight chamber, around about 100 to 105 miles per hour (161 to 169 kilometres per hour) to fly most people - then it goes up through the chamber here and then it goes into a diffuser, so it gets wider, so the air is then slower at the top. Then up at the top it turns, goes through four motors, goes through to the corners, turns, goes all the way down the side, where we can get rid of hot air and bring in cold air if we need to, to keep the temperature regulated, down to the bottom, turns again and then back into the middle and turns again to come all the way back up. That makes it really efficient in the fact that we are not accelerating air everytime. We're pushing and pulling."
8. Various interiors of wind tunnel
9. Various exteriors of wind tunnel
10. Man in control room
11. Close up of control panel
12. Instructor giving hand signals to flyer
13. Close up of control panel
14. Various of Airkix instructors flying in wind tunnel
15. Various of people looking at wind tunnel
16. SOUNDBITE: (English) Andy Godwin, Airkix Instructor
"When you sky dive its weather dependent and obviously if you're going to a competition you have certain sky dives, you know where they hold hands and they move around. When you go to a drop zone in a weekend you may well only be to practise that five or six times in a day, and you only get five or six minutes worth of practice. They can come here and in an hour they can do they equivalent of sixty of seventy sky dives in one hour."
17. People walking into wind tunnel
18. SOUNDBITE: (English) Simon Ward, CEO of Airkix
"Every single time someone comes out, they come out totally differently to how they go in - I call it the smile factory. People just grin. They just love it. It's addictive... it's just a fantastic experience."
19. People high flying
20. Person flying in wind tunnel
SUGGESTED LEAD IN :
It's the latest craze for the adrenalin junkie -- a vertical wind tunnel that gives you the exhilarating feeling of freefall without even boarding a plane or leaving the building.
The Airkix wind tunnel at a leisure centre in Milton Keynes, England, allows people of all ages the chance to experience flying.
STORYLINE :
Flying sky high -- enclosed in the walls of a 12 foot (3.5 metres) glass tube.
It sounds like a fantasy -- but in fact this three-million dollar purpose-built building is the UK's newest toy for extreme-sports fans -- and anyone looking for a new thrill.
It uses state of the art technology to replicate the environment that skydivers live for -- allowing anyone of any age the chance to feel the buzz of the "freefall".
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"This is the closest thing to the real thing. It's like the great outdoors, indoors."
SUPER CAPTION: Andy Godwin, Airkix Instructor
Four high performance fans are used to generate a controlled airflow, creating a wind speed of up to 170 miles per hour (274 kilometres per hour) -- the fastest of any indoor wind tunnel in the world.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
SOUNDBITE: (English)

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