The region’s first indoor skydiving facility, iFly Wilmington, opened its doors last weekend.
Dave Soler, the local franchise's chief growth officer, said the facility saw “booming” business during its grand opening on Saturday and has seen a mix of experienced and first-time skydivers so far.
“Predominantly, it's first-time flyers, families coming in here to experience something new in the Wilmington area,” Soler said on Thursday.
He said the business, located at 1441 Eastwood Road, currently has more than 30 people who have joined its membership group. The membership program allows more experienced skydivers to reserve the tunnel.
“Mainly, a lot of them use it for training purposes. They're here for coaching and for improving their skill, so that way when they go out and actually do skydiving they're more proficient in their skills,” Soler said.
The Wilmington facility is part of the iFly franchise, which opened its first wind tunnel in Orlando in 1998. The chain has more than 80 locations across the U.S. and around the world. The company’s only other North Carolina facility is near Charlotte.
Construction on the $14 million facility began in January. Patrick Maguire, who co-founded and co-owns the Wilmington iFly with his father-in-law, George “Jamie” Jamison, began to pursue bringing indoor skydiving to the area about six years ago.
Maguire serves as the location’s general manager while Soler, who is Maguire’s brother-in-law, works on the business development side of the local franchise. Eventually, the business partners plan to open additional iFly facilities across eastern North Carolina and South Carolina.
The indoor skydiving facility is primarily reservation-based but also can accommodate walk-ins and offers corporate and group tickets.
Customers enter the building through a check-in area that includes a service counter and scales, which help gauge the wind speed needed to support each skydiver.
After checking in, customers move into a larger room centered around the facility’s wind tunnel. There, skydivers receive their flight suits, helmets, goggles, earplugs and other equipment and meet up with the flight instructor who will help guide them through the experience.
All of the facility’s flight instructors recently completed training at the iFly facility near Charlotte, Soler said. Before entering the tunnel, instructors give customers a pre-flight safety briefing, tell them what to expect during the minute-long flight experience and answer any questions.
In addition to skydiving, the facility offers a 270-degree simulator room in partnership with Virginia-based company Conflict Kinetics. The company’s simulators have been used for military training to improve reaction time and hand-eye coordination. This is the first time the simulators are available for public use. It’s also the first time an iFly facility has offered another attraction in addition to a wind tunnel, Soler said.
In the coming weeks, the business plans to announce a kids club, Soler said, and they're also starting to have conversations about bringing military personnel into the facility to train in the wind tunnel.
iFly Wilmington is open on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. It's also open to spectators who might not be ready to fly yet, Soler said.
“You can always come in and just see what it is because I know everybody in town has been watching this building for almost a year now getting built,” he said. “We've had a lot of people just come in like midday and just be like, ‘I just wanted to see what it is.’ And usually, once you see it, you're like, ‘I want to do it.’”
