Aladdin´s magic carpet: no longer a myth

An extreme sports enthusiast has just achieved the impossible, by flying on a magic carpet.

Video footage shot by a drone shows 44-year-old Freddy Montigny leaping into the air off a dramatically high mountain top, before soaring through the sky as if by magic.

The stunt took place in the beautiful Vercors Massif mountain range in France, with Freddy choosing the 2,400 metre high Croix de Têtes as his launchpad. The Frenchman, who originally worked professionally as a drummer and stage technician, has spent years practising extreme sports and is no stranger to jumping from high places. He started paragliding when he was 25, followed by skydiving at 30 and hang gliding when he turned 35, all of which he attributes to helping him achieve his dream of flying on a carpet.

Freddy now considers himself to be something of an expert in these sports, and is confident that his intimate knowledge of the Vercors mountains, in which he has practised his sports for many years, plus the heights he jumps from, mean that his carpet voyages are as safe as they can possibly be. In fact, in the video, shown on YouTube, Freddy confirms that he allowed himself to fly towards the ground with a descent to 1,600 metres before he felt it necessary to open his parachute.

Magic carpets have been a myth in folklore for centuries

Magic carpets have been written about in folklore for centuries, originally in the Middle Eastern and South Asian tales of `One Thousand and One Nights´ (The Arabian Nights), compiled during the Islamic Golden Age (8th – 14th Century). However, these days the flying carpet is most famously recognised for the part it played in the tale of Aladdin, which, although not included in the original Arabian Nights compilation, was added in the early 18^th century by French storyteller Antoine Galland.