posted Sep 28th, 2005 - The NSL News traveled to Arizona in August and tested the new SkyVenture Arizona wind tunnel in Eloy. Three stories covered the trip and the experiences with the new tunnel.

The August 10 story explained the flying experience, an interview with Airspeed members followed on August 12, and a view from the management and coaching position completed the coverage on August 16.

The NSL News visit at SkyVenture Arizona coincided with a PR campaign for the new wind tunnel.

The PR campaign included a stop of ESPN's "50 States in 50 Days" project in Eloy, and the NSL News was able to observe the production of the ESPN show. The travel report of a staff member, Adam Willis, was later posted on the ESPN website. A copy of this report can be viewed below.

There was additional media interest and coverage during the PR campaign for SkyVenture Arizona. ESPN Radio visisted a few days later, and the Phoenix FOX News affiliate arrived the next day. The travel story and tunnel experiences of the ESPN 50-50 anchor is entertaining. The website story was introduced by the ESPN editors:

Traveling to 50 states in 50 days is an enormous undertaking, involving months of planning, four separate production teams (Green, Red, Yellow and Blue), lots of flights to small airports (and some bigger ones) and hours of behind-the-scenes preparation. We've enlisted Adam Willis, one of the many ESPN production assistants working on the tour, to let us know what goes into putting SportsCenter's "50 States in 50 Days" on the air.

Aug. 11: Flying high On Wednesday morning, I got to fly.

I leaned forward into a 120-mph breeze, stretched out my arms like Superman, and floated gently on a cushion of air for about two minutes. In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I'm a bit of a motion-phobe. I have to spend a few hours just to psyche myself to hop aboard even fairly mild roller coasters. So no, I didn't go skydiving.

What I did do, along with photographer Jim Farrell, audio man Joe Bohannon and anchorman Steve Berthiaume, was play inside the vertical wind tunnel at Skyventures, Arizona. Four giant fans suck air upward at speeds from 120 to over 150 miles per hour inside a tube that's approximately 20 feet in diameter.

The wind speed allows those inside the tube to experience freefall-like conditions. In other words, you get to feel like you're skydiving without having to deal with the inconvenience of jumping out of an airplane. We were dispatched to Skyventure (in Eloy, about an hour southeast of Phoenix) by our producer, Marc Weiner, who had a vision of Berthiaume riding the column of air while promoting Thursday's 50-in-50 stop in Arizona.

You think throwing out a first pitch is easy? Not when SportsCenter is involved. Steve came straight from the Phoenix airport to take part in the project, and seemed gung-ho about the airborne promo idea until he saw skydiving pro Rusty Lewis pop into the tube and shoot to the top like a lit bottle rocket. Steve turned a bit green, but was convinced of the tube's safety by the Skyventure staff.

Then we got to take our turns in flight. Steve was our guinea pig, and although he was not quite as gracefully under control as Lewis, he was able (with Rusty's help) to float comfortably and even do a few spin moves before being guided to the exit door. I went in third, very excited but with apprehension. The small amount of lingering fear quickly dropped away, however, as Rusty towed me out into the Category 5 hurricane-force vertical winds.

I could not stop smiling (well, partially because the wind was buffeting the hell out of my face) as I struggled to control my movements. The most unexpected thing I learned in the tube is how little you have to alter the position of your limbs to create a dramatic change of direction as you're floating. Straighten out your legs a bit, up you go. Tilt your hands slightly, meet Mr. Wall. Give the camera a good thumbs-up (as I did several times), your head pitches down and you look silly on camera.

Steve then got back into the wind, looking like General Patton -- or so he thought. The consensus in Bristol was that he more resembled Bullwinkle. Our promo ended up looking really good, finishing with Rusty guiding Steve to a position directly above our famous 50-in-50 sign, where Steve smiled and yelled "SportsCenter!" (Which was almost audible over the engine noise and wind.)

Thanks go out to Jamie Lindsay at Skyventure, who set the whole thing up. And also Shropshire, England's own talented Rusty Lewis for potty-training all of the rookies from ESPN. If you're headed to Arizona, check out www.skyventureaz.com and plan your trip to the wind tunnel. Tell 'em I sent you.

And remember - keep your mouth closed in the tunnel.