How I discovered the dream of Flight

Hi, my name is Emily King. I’m 8 years old and this is my story about how I came to live the dream of flight. 

It all started at Christmas when I was aged four. At that time, I only wanted two things; a multi-coloured pen and to be able to fly like Tinkerbell. I got the pen on Christmas day but had to wait a few weeks for my other present which was my first flight at iFLY Indoor Skydiving (known as Airkix then) in Basingstoke. I can still remember the training video, getting into the suit and then going into the tunnel. It was weird being without Mum (Sharon) & Dad (Andy), but I could see them through the glass which was reassuring. 

Then I flew. It was amazing. I just hung in the air and the wind held me up. I loved it. It was like being in space. But then JD, my instructor, started to spin me round and we went right to the top for a Hi-Fly – that was awesome! I was hooked and I just wanted to do it again and again.

Mum & Dad started to bring me back to the tunnel every few months. By the time I was aged five, I could fly on my belly unaided. I had my 5^th birthday party at the tunnel and JD came in specially to make sure all my friends could have the Hi-Fly experience. It was a great party.

I learned all the moves on my belly and then started back flying when I turned six years. I have very long hair and it kept whipping me in the face when I flew on my back so I tried the full-face helmets which worked really well. I asked for my own full-face helmet for my 7^th birthday (thanks Granny & Grandad).

Last summer I decided I really wanted to fly like the instructors. I asked one of the instructors, Zac, if he would coach me. I started learning to sit fly and cracked this during the summer holidays. I also worked on front and back layouts. During the Christmas holiday I worked hard on my back carving and layouts. Then, in the spring half term, I practiced sit carving. Now it was time to put a routine together for my first competition.

My coach helped me work out which were my best moves and how I could put them together into a freestyle routine.  I was quite nervous when it was time for the competition but everyone was really friendly and we had loads of fun before the flying started. As soon as I went in for my speed check I forgot about being nervous as I love flying so much! I flew my routine three times, had loads of fun and won a trophy!

My next challenge is to learn static head down and more level 4 moves and then build a new routine for my next competition.

I love everything about indoor skydiving; being in the tunnel, learning new moves, seeing great flyers and being with the instructors. I’d love to be an instructor so I could fly every day. 

Emily

A bit about Emily: 

Emily is 8 years old and lives in Woking with Mum, Sharon, and Dad, Andy, plus 2 German shepherd dogs and some chickens. 

As well as indoor skydiving she is a gold level junior ice skater, she plays golf with the Surrey Girls Golf Squad (which is hard as Mum & Dad don’t understand golf at all). She also enjoys drama, judo, cycling and indoor climbing. 

She loves food, especially French food and anything with garlic. She’s also partial to a double espresso and a mashmallow from Costa next to iFly (but she is only allowed decaf!) 

Her number one passion is indoor skydiving and she has already planned her first ‘real’ parachute jump for when she is 16.