Hang Gliding
Meet the Morning Glory, Australia's coolest cloud
Hang-glider pilot Jonny Durand reveals the Cineflex footage from his epic flight on Morning Glory.
2 min
Australia's Morning Glory Cloud
Jonny Durand
Australia's known around the world for its surfing waves – but few people realise those waves aren't only in the water. The Morning Glory is the world's most spectacular and predictable 'roll cloud', a 1,000km-long cloud formation that often moves at speeds of 60kmh, sometimes as a single cloud, and sometimes in sets of up to eight clouds.
For the first time, hang-glider pilot Jonny Durand has released the Cineflex footage of his epic flight. It's a unique piece of equipment that costs tens and often hundreds of thousands of euros.
Jonny Durand, hang-glider pilot
© Trent Mitchell/Red Bull Content Pool
What makes hang-gliding the Morning Glory so incredible is the lifting air rising up over the advancing cloud, offering pilots the chance to soar without constantly seeking thermal lift. Like water pushes a surfer up the face of the wave, the pilots use wind energy to swoop and spin in front this incredible natural phenomenon.
Fittingly, Durand's words give only the slightest indication of what that feeling is like. “You're pretty much speechless when you're up there,” he says. “The first time you experience the Morning Glory from the air, you don't know what to think.”
While Morning Glory roll-clouds have been spotted in other places around the world, Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria remains the most consistent spot to see these waves in the sky – and one of the only places in the world you can go surfing without getting wet.
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