French 'Flying Man' crosses Channel on jet-powered hoverboard

PARIS/SANGATTE: French inventor Franky Zapata on Sunday succeeded in crossing the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard he designed after a previous ended with him falling into the sea.

Standing on a platform powered by five small jet engines and carrying kerosene in a backpack, Zapata took off from Sangatte, just outside Calais in France at about 0617 GMT, trailed by three helicopters.

He reached Britain just over 20 minutes later, waving to onlookers before landing safely in Saint Margaret’s Bay, close to Dover on Britain’s southern coast, according to French television images.

“For the last five to six kilometers I just really enjoyed it,” Zapata told reporters on arrival. “Whether this is a historic event or not, I’m not the one to decide that, time will tell.”

“We made a machine three years ago…and now we’ve crossed the Channel, it’s crazy,” he said, before breaking into tears.

Zapata’s biggest challenge was refueling with another backpack halfway through the 35-km journey across the Strait of Dover, which required landing on a platform mounted on a boat.

On his first attempt to make the crossing on July 25, Zapata was knocked off balance in the process and fell. The inventor used a bigger boat and platform this time.

Zapata, who wowed crowds during France’s Bastille Day celebrations on July 14 by soaring over a military parade in Paris on the device, said on arrival that the hoverboard had reached speeds of 160 to 170 km per hour during the crossing.

‘My life’s work’

Zapata has been developing his hoverboard for the past three years, despite losing two fingers during its maiden flight in his garage near Marseille, when they got sucked into the turbines.

He already holds the Guinness World Record for the farthest hoverboard flight, a 2.2-kilometre trip over the Mediterranean Sea in April 2016.

No Guinness adjudicator will be on hand for the latest Channel attempt, though a spokeswoman said he could still be awarded a new record if the trip meets its guidelines.

Zapata burst into the spotlight at this year’s July 14 Bastille Day military parade in Paris, where he and his craft soared noisily above a crowd of stunned onlookers that included French President Emmanuel Macron.

His device has also captured the attention of the French military, which in December gave Zapata’s company, Z-AIR, a 1.3 million euro ($1.4 million) development grant.

Defence Minister Florence Parly told France Inter radio that it might eventually serve a variety of purposes, “for example as a flying logistical platform or, indeed, as an assault platform.”

“I can’t help it, the first time I saw it fly I said, ‘This is going to be my life’s work’,” Zapata told the French online media site Brut in a recent interview.