SkyVenture started just like many other businesses have, with a notion that a concept could be better than it currently is. Bill Kitchen, the original owner of the company and designer of our first tunnel, visited competing wind tunnels and knew there had to be a better way. He felt that the facility he had just visited was in need of a better safer system as he had been injured during the flight. He spent the next three years developing a better system, and in August of 1998, opened the first SkyVenture in Orlando, Florida.

This first new wind tunnel had several state-of-the-art features: fans above, which produced smoother air in the flight chamber, a wall-to-wall airflow, which eliminated the possibility of falling off of the column of air and a net that the staff could walk on, which allowed novice flyers to be under the constant supervision of an instructor.

Alan Metni was a World Champion on the U.S. National Skydiving Team, Arizona Airspeed. By hosting wind tunnel training camps for other skydivers, Airspeed became SkyVenture’s largest customer. Alan joined Bill as a partner in the company around this time, with Alan assuming the role of CEO.

Over time, Alan moved from Phoenix to Orlando and gradually became more involved in the day-to-day operation of the company. He eventually bought out Bill, moved the company to Austin, Texas and has continued to develop the company and its products.

During its short history, SkyVenture has become the undisputed technical and sales leader in this new and growing sport. SkyVenture’s superior technology provides the safest, most efficient and realistic freefall simulation possible. For this reason, SkyVenture has sold more vertical wind tunnels than any other company in the world.

The key technical features of all SkyVenture wind tunnels are the wall-to-wall airflow and the multiple overhead fans which allow SkyVenture to operate with very little electricity and almost no maintenance. SkyVenture has developed its own line of high-efficiency fans and motors which are optimized for vertical wind tunnel applications.

SkyVenture is patented in the United States, Spain, Canada, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Greece, Republic of Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Isle of Man, British Indian Ocean Territories, South Korea, Mexico, and Japan. SkyVenture spends more than 800,000 Euros each year on research and development to continually improve this technology. The company has four other patents currently pending in various countries around the world.

SkyVenture is a privately owned company with over $20,000,000 USD in annual gross sales.