You may recall a couple of weeks ago on Life In 360° we took to the air for a birds-eye view of, of all places, Pyongyang – North Korea‘s capital and the largest city in the country. On that occasion we went skywards courtesy of a microlight and the skills of a Singapore based photographer. As well as an unusual series of events, especially for the country in question.
Today’s footage is equally staggering but for its beauty as we step far away from Asia and take flight above Hawaii in a video from the team at VRtually There.
There’s no microlight this time. Instead we go the non-powered route and take in a spot of paragliding, courtesy of professional paragliding pilot and photographer Jorge Atramiz. “Every time I get in there I feel like I’m flying back in time.” Atramiz explains as we take in footage captured by him, soaring through blight blue skies above volcanic mountains on the island of Oahu, which is home to the state’s capital of Honolulu. “To me, free flying is going out of the box.”
During paragliding, which is usually done purely for recreational purposes but which (being an extreme sport) also has a number of competitive avenues, such as with the Red Bull X-Alps which has been running as an unofficial world championship in the ‘Hike & Fly’ style of competition that has taken place every two years since 2003. The pilot sits in a harness under a fabric wing, they then steer the wing through the open air via the assistance of with two lines called brake lines. Thanks to the design of the glider, which utilises the various wind currents, a pilot can stay airborne for an extended period of time. The longest distance currently travelled without power is a whopping 564km for a duration of over 11 hours was set by a Brazilian trio, who smashed the previous record (held by one of those involved) back in October 2016.
You too can experience the sensation of flying over the astonishing waters around Oahu by slipping on a capable headset and checking out the video below. VRFocus will be back on Wednesday for our next visit to the world of 360 degree video – unless anything in the news hits first, of course.