A day with the Freefly World Champions
What does Lyon look like from the sky? To find out, we made our way to iFLY, in Saint-Priest, to try out the new 4D simulator to skydive above the Confluence, and meet the people who designed it.
Karine Joly and Grégory Crozier, who turned 40 a few weeks ago, are the 2018 Freefly World Champi-ons. This artistic discipline involves jumping from an aircraft at an alti-tude of 4000 metres and then per-forming acrobatic figures in the air for 45 seconds. This performance is filmed and then judged by a jury on the ground.. Unless you are a regular visitor to the drop zone of Corbas or the Para-Club de Lyon, this will probably be all new to you... Now though, since only a few days ago, everybody can have a go at jump-ing in the air above Lyon with this championship-winning couple. That means you too.
How? Thanks to the wonders of tech-nology! Inaugurated in 2016, the indoor skydiving centre iFly, which resembles a giant wind tunnel powered by the equivalent of four jet engines, is cel-ebrating its fifth anniversary with the creation of a totally new experience combining a “real” jump and virtual reality: Ultimate 4D.
Fly above Lyon
Visitors begin with a standard intro-duction, in the tunnel, in order to learn how to control their body, as well as they can, in the air. They then don a vir-tual reality headset before diving from the aircraft, accompanied by Karine and Greg, as if they had stepped into the shoes, or jumpsuit rather, of their companion and cameraman. Three sky-diving sessions were needed for the trio to film a 360° view of Lyon and the Presqu’île.
The result is stunning. Beyond the physical sensations, the vision is ultra-realistic and you will no longer know where to turn your head to fully enjoy this totally mind-blowing view of the city. We suspect that it will make many want to have a go at skydiving in real life.
High level
Used to skydiving in the world’s most beautiful locations, above the pyramids of Egypt,the Great Barrier Reef, Copacabana or the salt pans ofNamibia, the two athleteshad to negotiate for several monthsto get permission to fly over Lyon. This amazing experience will soon be told by Karine in a book, set to be released at the end of 2021. You canfollow all of their adventures on
Instagram : @gregcrozier.airwax and @karinejoly.airwax.
Practical InfoThe Ultimate 4D pack, including souvenir photos and videos (€129.90) is available for ages 12 and up, while a standard first dive is accessible for ages 5 and over (€39).
48 ancienne route de Grenoble,
Saint-Priest.
www.iflylyon.fr
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