Watch: Inside iFLY Indoor Skydiving Naperville with Regional Manager Dave Genovese

In this Living in Naperville episode, host Dan Firks, with Chris Salas, visits iFLY indoor skydiving on Freedom Drive in North Naperville and talks with Regional Manager Dave Genovese. They cover what a first flight is like, why safety comes first, who can fly, the packages and block time, the STEM education program, and Naperville’s world-champion flyers.

Read the full guide: your first flight at iFLY Naperville →

Video Transcript

Chris Salas: Hello, and welcome to this episode of Living in Naperville. Today we have the pleasure of meeting with Dave, the Regional Manager here at iFLY. We’re out in North Naperville on Freedom Drive, and like Dan said, we’re here at iFLY. All right, let’s go check it out.

Dave Genovese: Gentlemen, I’m Dave Genovese.

Dan Firks: Dave, nice to meet you. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us today. We want to show the community what it’s all about. So, for families and visitors searching for fun things to do in Naperville, what makes this a must-visit experience?

Dave Genovese: It’s a unique experience, unlike anything you’re going to find anywhere else. We deliver the dream of flight. One of the unifying factors worldwide is that everybody wants to fly, and we give you that opportunity. It’s all ages. Every demographic under the sun can come to iFLY and experience something that is unbelievable and unreal.

Dan Firks: What would you say is the youngest individual you’ve ever seen fly?

Dave Genovese: Age three, three years old.

Dan Firks: Wow, that must be quite an experience for a three-year-old. What about the oldest?

Dave Genovese: There is a gentleman who was flying here in the Naperville tunnel who was 98.

Dan Firks: That is amazing. And we spoke a little bit earlier, off camera, and you mentioned that some championship fliers came from here in Naperville. Didn’t you say a brother and sister, the Wittenberg siblings?

Dave Genovese: A brother and sister. They went to nationals a few years ago. They have been longtime participants and fliers here in the Naperville location, and yes, they were champions.

Dan Firks: What do they compete in? Is it aerobatics within a tournament? What does that competition look like?

Dave Genovese: It’s very much based on style, similar to gymnastics. So you have a routine, certain points that you have to hit, and then how well you do it with grace and agility. They fly together and do things together, and there is some of that, but most of this is an individual sport. There is also some group participation, but you have to be at a certain level to be able to do that. The reason you won’t see first-time fliers get in the tunnel together, like brothers and sisters or dates, is because you’re all going to be flying at different wind speeds. And as a first-time flier, safety is of the utmost importance. So that’s why you’re in there with an instructor. The instructors go through a lot of training, and they’re constantly updated and stay current with their training protocol, to ensure we’re hitting all of our safety standards. This is all about fun and excitement, but honestly, safety first.

Dan Firks: All right, Dave, so I have a question for you. For someone who comes here for the first time, what should they expect?

Dave Genovese: I’ll tell you what, it exceeds all expectations. Unless you’ve actually skydived, this will be a completely new experience for you. It’s like I mentioned before, it’s just the dream of flight. This will be the closest you can ever possibly come to feeling the experience of flight.

Dan Firks: So, Dave, have you ever experienced skydiving yourself?

Dave Genovese: Yes, I’ve done it many times, back before it was as sophisticated as it is now. When I first skydived, I didn’t have the opportunity to do an indoor skydive.

Dan Firks: Were you a skydiving instructor? How did you get into this?

Dave Genovese: No. My field actually comes from a restaurant and hospitality background. I’ve been with iFLY for almost a decade in operations and general management, and now I oversee the three tunnels in the Midwest region for partnerships and development.

Dan Firks: So were you ever scared of heights in natural skydiving?

Dave Genovese: You’re giving me more credit than I deserve. Yes, of course I was scared of heights. But when you’re young and a little impetuous, you’ll try anything. Now, I enjoy getting in the tunnel here, it’s so convenient, and it’s just amazing. With skydiving, you get about 45 seconds of a drop, and then your parachute deploys. Here, you can do the free fall as long as you want, so you can train and learn all kinds of new tricks and techniques that you just wouldn’t be able to do out in outdoor skydiving.

Dan Firks: So it’s a good way to learn techniques you could actually use in real skydiving. Essentially, train here and take it from there.

Dave Genovese: Absolutely.

Dan Firks: I’ve noticed some of the videos you have when you enter the building, basically doing acrobatics, flipping all over. How long does something like that usually take the average person to learn?

Dave Genovese: It’s all contingent on your abilities. Depending on how much time you put in the tunnel and how motivated you are, it could be within months to years. Once you get the repetition and your central nervous system picks up on it, it’s pretty amazing how fast you can develop.

Dan Firks: What are the hardest things to learn, or what do people find most challenging when doing something like this?

Dave Genovese: I think it’s overcoming the initial fear and apprehension of getting in the tunnel. Once you’ve gotten past that and experienced it, all of a sudden it becomes far easier. But it’s always the first time that is the hardest.

Dan Firks: Tell our viewers, what kind of packages does iFLY offer for first-timers to start the process and get to the next level?

Dave Genovese: iFLY offers multiple packages across the board. It can be as recreational as birthday parties, having all the kids fly together. If you’re a first-time flier, you can get a two-flight package, and you get a high flight with it. It’s just absolutely amazing.

Dan Firks: So when you say high flight, what does that mean?

Dave Genovese: So when you do a two-flight or four-flight package… I should mention that when I say flights, flights are based on minutes. When you’re skydiving, you get approximately about a minute of freefall time, so we mimic that and sell flights by the minute. A two-flight package is your starter, so you get used to it. Then you can increase to four minutes, six minutes, ten minutes, to the point that, if you get really serious and want coaching and training, we offer what is called block time, where you can block out 15 to 30 minute sessions for hours. So there are different packages for beginners, and as they learn and get better, they can buy more blocks.

Dan Firks: So, Dave, what kind of group outings does iFLY host here in Naperville?

Dave Genovese: Pretty much everything you can imagine. We do corporate events, team-building events, many field trips, and we have a very robust STEM education program.

Dan Firks: Tell me a little bit about the educational program. What do you mean by that?

Dave Genovese: So with our STEM program, we bring in STEM field trips. The first hour of the field trip is all the education, everything to do with the aerodynamics. We present it in a fun environment, we do demos with different speeds, and it’s very interactive, based on the teaching level. And then the reward is that the kids get to get in and actually experience everything they learned. That’s the great thing, and why we’re so popular with so many of the school systems around here: they get a very robust learning component, but at the same time, it’s very exciting.

Dan Firks: A little bit of everything here, and I absolutely love that. Dave, Chris and I would like to thank you for taking the time to let our audience know a little bit more about iFLY. And I think we’re ready to check out the tunnel.

Dan Firks: That looks fun. What did you think?

Chris Salas: I think that was absolutely amazing. It was nothing like I expected it to be, super cool. I can’t wait to come back and start doing some flips. I’ll see you next time.

Read the full guide to indoor skydiving at iFLY Naperville →