Incredible Adventures: Our Story
Love at First Flight
The year was 1993. A young American entrepreneur was in Moscow,
recruiting computer programmers for his new software company when
a guy named Andrey offered him a flight in a MiG-29. It was a case
of "love at first flight". He signed a deal to market the flights
worldwide, returned home to Florida and founded MIGS
etc.
 After
renting an office and hiring staff, an ad was placed in The Wall
Street Journal, introducing the world to high-performance flying
holidays. Then he rushed back to Moscow to take another flight in
a MiG, becoming the first of many jet flight addicts.
For the first time ever, you could pull out your credit card and
buy a flight in a high-performance military jet. Many thought the
first ad was a joke. (Obviously they didn't know how expensive it
is to place an ad in The Wall Street Journal.)
Our very first client to fly was a female investment banker from
New York, followed closely by a furniture dealer from Miami. Their
history-making flights were featured in an NBC story by Tom Brokaw.
Soon, customers and news crews started arriving from all over the
world.
I remember one of our early customers, a
guy from Switzerland, accused us of trying to kill him. He didn't
realize fighter jets are made to fly low and fast and everything
he did in the jet was perfectly safe and routine. I guess we didn't
do a very good job or preparing him for the incredible thrill
of flying in a MiG. 
~ Jane Reifert, President of IA and one of the company's original
employees
News of what was going on at Zhukovsky Air Base soon reached officials
at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. MIGS etc was asked
to help find customers for their IL-76 zero-gravity flights. The
company's first weightless flight took place in February 1994 with
a CNN reporter on board.
In 1995, the company was sold to an employee-lead ownership group.
Offerings were expanded to include additional cosmonaut training
adventures as well as Sahara adventures in Tunisia.
Feeling the "etc" in MIGS etc. just couldn't hold all the new stuff,
the company was rechristened Incredible Adventures, Inc.
In January of 1997, controlling interest in the company was sold
to Norman Fast, a venture capitalist with experience in the adventure
travel industry.
Today, Incredible Adventures offers fighter jet flights in six
countries, space adventures at Star City, four different great white
shark dives, military adventures around the world, and much, much
more. The company maintains a full-time staff in Sarasota and Moscow
and a worldwide network of really incredible people ready to help
fulfill your adventure dreams.
Life
is either an incredible adventure or nothing at all.
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When I applied for the job in 1993, I figured the company would
maybe last a year but figured it'd be a fun place to work. Little
did I know that 16 years later, I'd still be here and writing
the title 'president' behind my name. Why have we succeeded
in this wild and wacky business? Maybe it's because we don't
lie. We've built our reputation by delivering everything we
promise and more. We've made it our mission to deliver the most
incredible adventures available at the fairest possible price.
~ Jane Reifert |
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