Flight is the action of traversing through an atmosphere or beyond it by creating aerodynamic lift, propulsive thrust, using bouyancy or ballistics. One can also achieve temporary flight by jumping off tall structures, which brings us to PopConversation's 5 thrilling activities that'll make you feel like a bird/plane/superman (prepare to be captivated by videos that will make you restless in your rotatable office chair #whitecollar).
1) Rope Swinging at Moab Utah featuring Devinsupertramp
World's Largest Rope Swing by vagrant Youtuber Devinsupertramp is making quite a
2) Jetpacking at Grand Canyon featuring Jetman
Look up in the sky! It's a bird, it's a plane, no, it's Swiss pilot, inventor and aviation enthusiast Yves Rossy! Yves Rossy, also known by his superhero alias Jetman, is the first person to accomplish sustained human flight by way of a jet-powered fixed wing strapped onto his back. His endeavours have earned him many aerial themed nicknames like Airman, Jetman, Rocketman and even Fusionman, all of which could easily fit into a Megaman game.
His video titled 'Jetman Flight at Grand Canyon West' is one of the most enchanting videos that I've ever watched, thanks in part to the panning shot of his tiny silhouette against the immense landscape and the beautiful musical score used in the video, Adiemus , a combination of which stirred the restless soul within me; five and a half minutes later, I added some sugar to my coffee and went back to my excel sheets.
3) Free Diving at Dean's Blue Hole featuring Guillaume Nery
French constant weight free-diver Guillaume Nery is seen in this video penetrating the murky depths of Dean's Blue Hole (the world's deepest known hole with seawater). He plunges deep into its watery passage with no protection save for a pair of goggles to keep the liquid from getting into his eyes.
The entire spectacle was captured on film by his fellow Frenchmen and freediver Julie Gautier; they claim that this clip is fiction and an artistic project but 11 million viewers didn't care if it was real or they were just faking it, to them (and me) it was 4 minutes and 18 seconds of pure visual and aural bliss.
4) Base Jumping in Norway featuring Soul Flyers
Base jumping veterans, The Soul Flyers (comprising of Frenchmen Fred Fugen, Vince Reffet and Jean-Phi Teffaud) have created a brilliant showcase of their extreme sport; a combination of arresting camera angles and dramatic slow motion coupled with sharp editing makes their jumping off tall cliff faces (in Norway and Switzerland) and diving head first into the ground below look irresistable.
The team of european thrillseekers have a motto (on their website) that goes like this, "Be Happy, Fly Your Body", which I definitely won't deny, but I can't say the same about the tiring climbs up many mountains though #OverseasArmyExcerciseInTaiwan. The feature was edited by their friend Philippe Ducros, great job on putting together an action packed video!
5) Wing Suit Flying in Europe featuring Adrenaline Geeks
Men would go through any lengths to experience the liberating feeling of flight, or in this case, any heights. Our last video on the list stars adrenaline junkie Shane Murphy and it starts at the end of Shane's climb up the mountain above the clouds. Before jumping off the towering natural formation (that he must've took at least days to climb), the American recorded a 360 degree camera pan of the landscape that surrounded him, it was grandiose and breathtaking so I figured I try something similar and did a quick video capture in the same style in my office cubicle; I deleted my video.
The wingsuit flight segment of his film are highly engrossing, so much so that you'd find yourself unwittingly leaning from side to side as you try to steer away from the treacherous cliff faces and thick pointy pine tree foliage. Ariel feats across sweeping green vistas and dubstep music (Cracks- Flux Pavilion Remix) go well together and the clip was 4 minutes and 50 seconds well spent.
Which of these activties will you be adding to your bucket list? What other thrilling ariel activities do you know off? Share them with us in the comment boxes below!
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By Herman Soh
