Real-life Aladdin leaps from mountain cliffs on a ‘flying carpet’ stunt

A thrill-seeker has brought childhood dreams to life by soaring from mountain cliffs on a flying carpet. Freddy Montigny, 44, has spent years mastering extreme sports to fulfil his dream of becoming a real-life Aladdin.

Using skills acquired from paragliding, skydiving and hang gliding, Freddy developed this unique stunt which allows him to fly on a carpet.

A heart-stopping video shows Freddy’s most daring leap from the Croix des Tetes, a 2400-meter-high mountain in the Vercors range in France.

He can be seen plummeting to 1,600 meters while riding a carpet. Freddy, hailing from Choranche, France, said “I’ve always wondered what part of the myths and legends we were told as kids was true.”

“I started paragliding at 25, skydiving at 30, and hang gliding at 35.”

“All these activities helped me master the art of carpet flying,” he added.

Freddy’s carpet flights are made safe by years of experience, practice at Vercors Massif and a trusty parachute. He explained: “The parachute is my main safety net.”

“If anything goes wrong, I just release the carpet and open it.”

“With the height I’m jumping from, I have plenty of time to correct any mistakes.”

While Freddy admits that flying a magic carpet isn’t quite like the legends, his dream is now a reality.

He concluded: “With this flying carpet, I’ve learned that while you can’t fly at any speed or to any destination, it’s still an amazing way to defy reality.”

“I wanted to play with reality and use the skills I’ve learned in life to chase this dream.”

Freddy, who is also a professional drummer and stage technician, now fancies himself a “professional carpet rider.”