The Flight Stuff

By Tom Hess

In a top-secret nighttime training flight over the Nevada desert, Air Force pilot Korky von Kessel had a split-second, life-and-death decision to make. His aircraft malfunctioned and he was just 20 feet above ground, with the sand closing fast. Von Kessel’s only choice: crash land the plane, in the dark.

The jet now planted, von Kessel leapt out of the cockpit and landed his back end on a cactus. He walked away otherwise unharmed, a long-ago tale he tells now with a smile, for guaranteed laughs.

Von Kessel says that the nighttime crash wasn’t nearly as scary as the 2022 launching of an indoor skydiving business, iFLY Colorado Springs. Von Kessel and his two partners had owned and operated businesses before, but none had built a wind tunnel for indoor skydiving. It’s been an interesting ride at iFLY Colorado Springs so far, the 39th location of a global indoor skydiving business that’s soaring in popularity.

iFLY is just across Interstate 25 from the Air Force Academy, where von Kessel launched his career. He first arrived at the Academy in 1975 from rural Missouri, and graduated in 1979. That’s where and when he met iFLY co-owners Michael “Omar” Bradley from New Jersey and Joel Maynard from Illinois. After graduation, each became an aviator; each achieved the rank of colonel; each served their last Air Force post here. And each chose to make their retirement home in Colorado Springs. (Each celebrates a 66th birthday in 2023.)

You can hear the source of the Air Force colonels’ bumpy ride from the conference room where the three share their stories with NORTH. They oversee a first-class staff of world-record holders, skydiving champions, and experienced instructors. The wind tunnel is in the next room, and you can hear four 50,000-pound fans spin upward, generating air flow that can raise and lower guests of up to 300 pounds (the tunnel’s upper limit) inside a two-story column of glass.

The roar of the wind vibrates the building that houses the tunnel. The trick for wind tunnel novices like the three colonels is that the tunnel must be installed and secured while also erecting the building’s steel skeleton. Steelworkers helped them solve the puzzle.

The other trick in opening an iFLY location is building a customer base. The trio work with the Academy in providing an indoor skydiving training site for Academy cadets. But success depends on the public buying time in the tunnel, too. (iFly Colorado Springs offers special promotions, such as “Love is in the Air” for Valentine’s Day couples.) And there’s one piece of their business plan that is not yet complete: the referrals they expect from the opening of the Air Force Academy Visitor Center, expected to open in 2024.

In the meantime, this iFLY franchise is unique enough to get national attention. The site hosted 150 guests for the U.S. 2022 Indoor Skydiving Nationals. Organizers of the event told the three colonels that the event would likely return to Colorado Springs in 2023.

Some of iFLY Colorado Springs’ special features: 63-person stadium seating, alcohol service, and a magnificent view of Pikes Peak and the Front Range. The two-story glass tunnel offers views that other iFLY locations don’t – all other iFLY locations installed translucent fiberglass at the top level.

The three colonels each bring a specific skill set and life experiences to work. Joel Maynard owned a residential construction business; Omar Bradley, who was shot at by Serbians while flying a fighter jet over Bosnia, owned a defense contracting firm; Korky von Kessel, a self-described “hick from a farm” who flew with Bradley, owns a healthcare consulting firm.

The three colonels vote on business matters, with two out of three votes approving or rejecting a proposal.

Most civilians would agree that three colonels who flew in the Air Force, and overcame dangers, know how to meet the challenges of a business they knew nothing about. The line of teenagers on a winter Wednesday awaiting their turn in the wind tunnel is proof enough that the colonels have the right stuff.

National Attention

The site hosted 150 guests for the U.S. 2022 Indoor Skydiving Nationals. Organizers of the event told the three colonels that the event would likely return to Colorado Springs in 2023.

iFLY is located at 281 Kaycee Case Place, off the Voyager exit along I-25