Take the Plunge Without the Plummet

In Perris, people fall from the sky almost every day.

The sprawling Perris Valley Skydiving center is one of the largest in North America, averaging 100,000 jumps a year and boasting the West Coast’s largest fleet of turboprop airplanes.

But by this fall, skydivers in Perris won’t need a plane to get airborne.

Instead, they can flutter on their bellies in a 96-foot-tall steel wind tunnel, one of only a few professional-quality skydiving simulators in the nation.

The wind tunnel will be the only one at a U.S. drop zone, experts said -- a bonus for skydiving professionals and students, who need hours of freefall experience to master the craft. The simulator will allow them to practice without having to pack a parachute and get on a plane.

Ideally, it also will cost less, although Perris Valley Skydiving has yet to determine prices. A similar facility in Orlando, Fla., charges $38.50 for adults and $33.50 for children for training, gear and two “dives.” Actual skydives for experienced jumpers at Perris are $16 from 12,500 feet on a weekday and $20 from 12,500 feet on a weekend.

“We expect the [Perris Valley] wind tunnel to do a lot for skydiving,” said Christopher Needels, executive director of the 34,000-member United States Parachute Assn. in Alexandria, Va. “It should give people more confidence to make a jump.”

Construction began this month. The state-of-the-art Perris SkyVenture wind tunnel will be 60 feet across, large enough to allow a skydiving team in a four-way formation to practice before a competition. The tunnel will have protective netting and five fans with 250 horsepower each.

It’s not just for pros. Children as young as 5 will be able to swoosh and swoop in the tunnel, monitored by an instructor. Enthusiasts believe that the machine, blowing a stream of air up to 145 mph, similar to freefall conditions, will infect would-be jumpers by exposing them to the sensation of freefall before they turn 18, the age at which most facilities allow people to jump. They hope the exhilaration will also change the minds of those reluctant to leap from an aircraft.

“Freefalling is such a great feeling,” said Jill Scheidel, general manager of Perris SkyVenture and a skydiver with hundreds of jumps. “Once people experience it,” Scheidel said, “I think most will want to do it again.”

Of course, fear tempers desire for some.

“People get uncomfortable with the thought of hurtling themselves 120 mph toward the ground,” Needels said. “A lot of people are afraid of falling. Like anything, there is a risk,” he said.

At Perris Valley Skydiving, for instance, veteran jumper from Tennessee died last October after her parachute appeared to malfunction. In 2000, a Hemet dentist died when his gear apparently failed.

About 30 people die each year in the U.S. in parachuting-related deaths, a figure that has remained constant for 10 years, Needels said. But the number of people skydiving during that time has doubled to 350,000.

Skydivers make 3 million jumps each year.

“The danger is relative” to the number of jumps, Needels said.

With a wind tunnel, the risk is minimal. Needels said his group knows of no serious injuries or deaths from simulators like the one being built in Perris. Nor has he heard of any at the 33 professional and carnival-style wind tunnels worldwide.

“The worst I could see happening is that you might bang into a wall,” Needels said.

To ensure tunnel safety, professional skydivers said, instructors supervise while floaters don helmets, goggles and other protective gear before flying in the padded chamber.

Perris Valley Skydiving already has people signed up to use the tunnel when the facility opens in October. It also has a list of qualified skydivers wanting to become instructors.

One is Kimm Wakefield. “This is going to be huge,” she said. “Everyone is going to want to come to Perris.”

Actor and model Antonio Sabato Jr., who races cars and jumps from planes when he’s not filming movies or TV shows, said he is eager for the tunnel to open so he can bring his 9-year-old son.

“Otherwise, he’ll have to wait until he’s 18 to know what freefalling is like,” said the former “General Hospital” actor, who recently persuaded his sister and a friend to dive from 12,500 feet. It was their first time.

A simulator, his sister said, might have eased her into the jump.

“He’s been trying to get me to do it for a long time,” Simonne Sabato said. “I’ve always chickened out. But I’d do it again.”