David Copperfield's flying illusion

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David Copperfield performs a flying levitation created by John Gaughan that is considered by both magicians and laymen to be the world's finest.[citation needed] After his acrobatic flight around the stage, the audience suspects he may be suspended on wires, so Copperfield has spinning hoops passed over him to disprove this. He then floats inside a covered acrylic glass box to convince them otherwise. He selects a female volunteer from his audience and flies with her in a fashion similar to Superman carrying Lois Lane. The illusion sometimes ends with a falcon named "Icarus" grasping Copperfield by the wrist and flying off stage with him.

The performance is accompanied by an orchestration called "East of Eden Suite" by film composer Lee Holdridge, originally written as the theme music for the 1981 miniseries East of Eden.


Method
David Copperfield is supported by a pair of arrays of many fine wires that remain invisible to the audience when viewed against the light blue background. The wires are less than 1mm thick, but they can support 100kg each. The wire arrays are mounted at the hips, conveniently near the human center of mass, to a harness worn under the clothing. This creates a balance point that allows Copperfield a wide range of natural movement while suspended. The wires are attached to a computer-controlled rig above the stage that ensures each wire is taut, and keeps each fan of wires "in a plane substantially perpendicular to the viewing direction of the audience so as to maintain the integrity of the illusion." During the hoop demonstration, two hoops are used simultaneously, and the way they are moved in unison creates an optical illusion that he has fully passed through each hoop, when he has not actually passed through either of them. In the glass box demonstration, the top of the box is threaded between the two sets of wires in a vertical position, before being rotated ninety degrees and lowered into place. The wires remain in place while Copperfield is in the glass box, passing through crevices between the lid and the sides. Since the wires are trapped in a single position while he is in the box, he is only able to rotate on one axis, so he stays side on to the front of the audience throughout this part of the performance. When he flies with the girl, he holds her in front of him, and she does not come into contact with the wires.



p/s: ingatkan jin yg tolong dia terbang..