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Berlin

Three-minute thrill ride

Are you an extreme sports thrillseeker? Hurricane Factory, Berlin’s first wind tunnel, gives you a taste of flight out near another (future) site of flight – BER.

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Photo by German Palomeque

You feel a little like a fish in a tank as people gawk at you through the thick glass. Strong wind gushes into your face, a loud roar surrounds you. But hey, you’re flying!

Hurricane Factory, Berlin’s first wind tunnel, uses gusts of up to 280km/h to propel jumpsuited thrillseekers into the air within a 5.20m-wide, 15m-high tube. Everyone, from five-year-olds to pensioners, can take off. Instructors give a quick intro, accompany you into the glass tunnel and help you soar all the way to the top.

It’s a real adrenaline rush, albeit a quick one at just three minutes. And it comes with a price: €79 (€99 on weekends), or 40 cents flying out of your pocket for every second you spend in the air. But it’s cheaper than skydiving, and makes for a proper day out considering you have to trek to Schönefeld Airport, take a bus (742) which only runs once an hour, and then walk 500m (our tip: take your bike on the train).

There’s an S-Bahn station nearby, but it’ll only open when BER does, so… yeah. Someone should’ve warned Hurricane Factory’s Slovakian owners, who must have been banking on the new airport being finished this year. In the meantime, at least something’s flying in that area…

Waßmannsdorfer Allee 3, Schönefeld, Tue-Thu, Sun 10-22, Fri-Sat 10-24