Vol Découverte — 15-20 min at 800 m

Take-off happens at Les Colimaçons, on the heights above Saint-Leu, at 800 metres above the sea. The drive up takes about fifteen minutes from the meeting point. The site faces due west, looking at the lagoon. That exposure is what makes the flying window wide: the sea breeze climbs the slope for much of the day, and the pilots of Air Lagon have read it on this same ground for forty years. The flight leaves the strip into the wind, and glides towards the coast. Landing happens beside the lagoon, on a clear area a few hundred metres from the beach. The fifteen to twenty minutes in the air cover the whole descent, from the relief down to the coral reef.

The meeting point sits near Kélonia, at the north entrance of Saint-Leu, fifteen minutes before the chosen slot. Parking there is free. Lines 30, 31, 37 and 42 of the Kar'Ouest network serve the area. The shuttle of the school Air Lagon drives up to the take-off site. Nine slots cover the day, from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon. That spread exists to move a flight later in the day when conditions close for a while. Accepted weight runs from 20 to 120 kilos, and the minimum age is four years. No fitness level and no experience are required. A delay costs nothing when the weather does not allow flying, and Reunion Island offers around three hundred flying days a year.

A tandem flight runs under the responsibility of the instructor, who alone decides whether to launch. Every pilot flying at Saint-Leu holds the state Brevet, the only qualification allowing paid supervision of tandem flight in France. Wings meet the EN 926-1 and EN 926-2 standards, harnesses the EN 1651 standard. Gear is checked every day before the opening rotation, not once a season. Third-party liability cover applies to every passenger. This frame holds for the Découverte package as for the others: the stated length changes, the level of control does not. More than fifty thousand flights have left these sites, and the Google listing of the school shows a rating of 4.9 out of 5 across more than four hundred reviews.

The short format is picked for a simple reason: it gives the heart of the flight without taking the morning. Fifteen to twenty minutes in the air are enough to leave the ridge of Les Colimaçons, follow the west coast and fly over the lagoon of Saint-Leu before landing. The price of ninety euros per person makes it the entry point of the range at the school Air Lagon. The package suits families, children from four years old, and passengers who do not yet know how they will react in the air. Nothing about it calls for preparation, and the turtles of the lagoon stay on the programme. Those after a longer aerial hike, with a climb and acrobatics, will find it on the higher packages leaving from the same site above Saint-Leu. The choice is made when booking, never at take-off.