After wowing spectators and world leaders at France’s Bastille Day parade earlier this month, Franky Zapata, dubbed the ‘Flying Frenchman’, will on Thursday attempt to cross the English Channel on the jet-powered ‘flyboard’ he invented. Click on the player to watch the video.
Zapata plans to fly from Sangatte in France to Dover in England, a distance of around 50 kilometres (30 miles), on the hoverboard-like device
Travelling at an average speed of 140 km/h, the flight is expected to last around 20 minutes.
But Zapata will need to stop on a boat to refuel the flying machine’s kerosene tank to cover the distance.
"I'm confident,” said Zapata on Wednesday after a final practice before the flight. “There's just the wind direction and the wind strength, which is still high, it could make the crossing more complex."
Zapata’s Channel-crossing attempt has been timed to coincide with one of the most important dates in aviation history, coming 110 years to the day that his countryman Louis Bleriot made the first aeroplane flight across the same stretch of water between France and England.
