FlyOver Iceland gives birds-eye view of stunning landscape

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I swear I felt my feet touch the pounding force of the waterfall as we swooped past it. I couldn’t be sure though as my eyes were squeezed tight and my muffled shrieks drowned out any other sound.

With a lifelong fear of heights, the soaring flight over rivers and glaciers, across brilliant green fields and through the city centre was a bit of an endurance feat. But the steep banking through canyons courtesy of the stunt pilot took me to the edge.

It did no good to keep reminding myself that I wasn’t actually in the helicopter flying over Iceland; I was in a most amazing, electrifying new attraction that simulates flying like a bird over the country at close quarters.

FlyOver Iceland, like its sister attraction in Vancouver — FlyOver Canada — and others opening in Las Vegas in 2021 and Toronto in 2022, has been described as a mash-up between an IMAX movie and a Disneyesque ride. But it’s neither, and so much more.

Buckled in, the state of the art seat platforms glide forward in the dark theatre until you’re dangling in mid-air. That’s your first taste of the sensory experience. A massive 20-metre cylindrical screen immerses you in the footage and the seat platform — with six degrees of motion — follows the action on screen. The 3D experience includes sound, touch and smell with the heady bouquet of wildflowers filling the room as you fly across a meadow, wind and spray hitting your face as you swoop past the aforementioned waterfall, and a crescendo of music as fireworks blast in Reykjavik as you zoom down the main street. The show creators even worked in the jostling of the seats to simulate when an errant firework hit a drone camera during filming.

“The show is all about you being the bird that’s flying through the air,” Dave Mossop, the Canadian director of the film, says in one of four videos explaining how FlyOver Iceland was made. “The pilot is the eye of the bird that’s flying through this place. All his moves with the stick and the pedals is exactly what you feel as the viewer.”

The helicopter filming waterfall kayaking scenes at Godafoss for FlyOver Iceland. Courtesy, FlyOver Iceland/PursuitCalgary

One of the key creators of the attraction is creative director Rick Rothschild, who has 30 years experience at Walt Disney Imagineering. “I think humans dream to free fly. So flying first and foremost is what we’re bringing to guests. To truly lift you from the ground. How did we do it? It’s all magic, you know.”

More than 100 hours were spent in the helicopter to film 30 scenes. Only 20 made the final cut and it was a tough decision to decide what was dropped, according to David Barry, president of Pursuit, the North American company which created the attraction in partnership with Esja Attractions ehf.

“You put your energy, your heart, your soul, your efforts into telling a great story, to capture it to the greatest extent we can. The most powerful, iconic scenes that we can. Is it iconic? Is it unforgettable? Is it inspiring? It comes down to the amount of time and what shots are going to fit.”