Tunnel Instructor is a non-profit organization whose aim is to promote safe training and best practice within the wind tunnel industry. The 3 board members - Alberto Fuertes, Brendan O’Rafferty and Paul Mayer - are without a doubt amongst Europe’s most renowned players in the field of wind tunnels. This initiative combines their many years of experience, not only in flying and instructing, but al
so in organization & development, daily operations and safety management. In January 2013 Alberto Fuertes and Brendan O’Rafferty decided to create the Tunnel Instructor network and share their experience and knowledge with the entire tunnel community. With the help of Boris Nebe from Indoor Skydiving Bottrop and Paul Mayer from Bodyflight Bedford the whole concept started to take shape, and training & instructing materials were developed. The material is based on shared best practice techniques, but continuous feedback from partners and members is crucial to ensure that we keep at the leading edge of flying skills and safe operating methods. By February 2014, the organization was responsible for uniting 10 tunnels across Europe, rating over 100 instructors in 9 different countries. Of these, Alberto Fuertes and Brendan O’Rafferty have over the years trained and certified the staff of Windoor Empuriabrava (Spain), Alcantarilla (Spain), Bodyflight (UK), New Hampshire (USA), Skydive Arena (Czech Republic), Tatralandia (Slovakia), Bodyflight (France) and the Polish Army tunnel. Boris Nebe trained the staff of Indoor Skydiving Bottrop (Germany), Voss Vind (Norway) and FlyStation SPb (Russia). The aim of the organization is not only to guarantee that tunnel staff is educated according to what is believed to be best practice in training and safety, but also to offer flyers and instructors the option to take part in and benefit from a swiftly growing community, connecting most of the existing tunnels in Europe, striving to maintain the highest standards of quality possible. The organization offers materials free of charge. It does not warrant that the practiced instructor methods will meet your needs, and they can by no means substitute a proper course under the supervision of an appropriately rated Trainer or Examiner! With the flying manuals, the organization hopes to inspire both coaches and flyers on all levels, recommending the methods which are believed to be the best available to help you progress into a highly skilled flyer. We hope you will enjoy reading and learning from the manuals. Although our material is free for you to use, Tunnel Instructor retains all copyright to the published manuals and other available information on it’s website. You may NOT change or reproduce our training manuals, videos or website content without prior written permission to do so. Please feel free to give feedback, support and spread the word about the organization and it’s growing network. Tunnel Instructor would like to give special thanks to Alberto Fuertes and Brendan O’Rafferty for being the engine behind the whole project, to Paul Mayer for being a generous sponsor and helping with the organization’s website, to Boris Nebe for his expert input and advice, to Roman Weck for offering tunnel time to record the instructional videos and to Alberto Fuertes, Tristan Hampson and Lou David for putting the written manuals together.
