I’VE always liked the idea of skydiving but have never quite plucked up the courage to actually sign up to throw myself out of a plane.

So I was thrilled when I won the office draw to try out indoor skydiving in Milton Keynes and get a taste of what will soon be offered in Basingstoke by Airkix.

Our instructor Tim made every effort to put me and the rest of the novice skydivers in my group at ease before we donned jumpsuits, helmets, earplugs and goggles in preparation for the flight, as it is called.

During our briefing, he talked us through the position we would have to hold throughout the skydive – body arched, hips forwards, arms up, chin up, legs apart and fairly straight. So far, so good.

He also briefed us on a few basic hand signals he would give us in the wind tunnel – signals to tell us to straighten or bend our legs, to relax and to ask us if we were okay.

No problem, I thought.

But as soon as I fell forward into that wind tunnel, all of his good advice vanished from my head.

The rush of air, which gushes up into the tunnel at around 110mph, took my breath away and the noise was incredible.

I was thinking less of my body position and more of not falling flat on my face and, as I lost the ‘banana’ position you are supposed to adopt, I sunk steadily towards the floor.

It was only when I slowly began to become accustomed to the bizarre sensation of weightlessness and started to get the hang of the all-important positioning that I began to feel a little more secure.

My two-minute session in the tunnel was over before I knew it and I was keen to have another go.

It was less of a shock to the system the second time I fell into the tunnel and I was even able to spin slowly round, helped by the ever-patient Tim.

The highlight was the ‘high flyer’ experience, an extra which you can tag on to your flight, in which the instructor holds on to your wrist and ankle and spins you round before whizzing you up and down the tunnel at tremendous speed – a must for adrenaline junkies.

The experience offered in Basingstoke Leisure Park will be almost identical to that offered in Milton Keynes, but the tunnel will be 14ft in diameter instead of 12ft and will be round rather than hexagonal.

Chief executive of Airkix Simon Ward said: “It will be bigger and better and will have 44 per cent more surface area.

“It will also have a bigger viewing gallery for friends and family of fliers.”

As previously reported in The Gazette, the £6million site – which opens to the public on Saturday, June 22 – will also offer two ‘skiplex’ slopes, dry surfing and race car simulators.