Vol Long — 25-30 min at 800 m

Take-off happens at Les Colimaçons, 800 metres above Saint-Leu, on the same site as the Vol Découverte. The difference lies in time aloft, not in the launch point. Twenty-five to thirty minutes leave room for real thermal work: the pilot goes looking for the breeze climbing the slope, gains height, and comes back down towards the west coast. The lagoon of Saint-Leu and its coral barrier are flown over near the end, before landing on the clear area by the sea. The pilots of Air Lagon have flown this site for forty years and know the rhythm of the breezes hour by hour. That reading of the ground separates a straight glide from a genuine aerial walk above the coast.

The meeting point sits near Kélonia, at the north entrance of Saint-Leu, fifteen minutes before the chosen slot. Parking there is free, and lines 30, 31, 37 and 42 of the Kar'Ouest network serve the area. The shuttle of the school Air Lagon drives up to Les Colimaçons from that point. Nine slots cover the day, from seven in the morning to five in the afternoon. Accepted weight runs from 20 to 120 kilos and the minimum age is four years, as on every package leaving from this site. No experience is required. A delay costs nothing when the weather does not allow flying, and Reunion Island offers around three hundred flying days a year on the west coast.

The instructor alone decides whether to launch, and that call outranks the schedule as well as the wishes of the passenger. 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 up to Les Colimaçons. Third-party liability cover applies to every passenger. On a package of twenty-five to thirty minutes, the stated length depends on the day: a weak breeze shortens the flight, a good thermal holds it. The school Air Lagon has flown more than fifty thousand tandem flights from this site.

The Vol Long is picked when fifteen minutes feel short. At one hundred euros per person, it adds ten minutes aloft to the entry format, from the same launch site and along the same route. It is the package for passengers who want time to look rather than time to work out what is happening to them. The west coast, the lagoon of Saint-Leu and the crops of the heights pass by without the flight feeling over before it started. Acrobatics are not included at this level: they come from the Vol Extra Long upwards. Those after them, or after an aerial hike of thirty to forty minutes, will move one level up the range at the school Air Lagon.