Swiss pilot flies jetpack across English Channel

[ceptimus]

Swiss pilot, Yves Rossy, jumped out of an aeroplane over Calais, France and flew the 22 miles to England powered by four model aircraft jet engines.

The wing strapped to his back was just over eight feet span, and was built from carbon fibre using model aircraft construction techniques.

On reaching Dover after a flight of under ten minutes, he deployed his parachute and came in to a safe landing with the wing still strapped to his back.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Jetpack man crosses Channel

YouTube - Flight of Fusion Man

[Crumb]

He'll be crossing the channel. He should do it on the anniversary of Blériot's crossing. July 25, 2009

[ceptimus]

But he did it today.

He said he wants to fly some demonstrations in other places - maybe over the Grand Canyon - and he also wants to do aerobatics.

He said that lots of other pilots should soon be flying similar wings, and that they could put on formation flying displays together.

The wing has no flaps or ailerons. Yves steers using his head. Whichever way he turns his head to look: up, down, left or right; results in him flying in that direction.

[California Tanker]

He cheated. He launched from an airplane, not the ground.

NTM

[Crumb]

True. He probably doesn't have the fuel for a take-off.

[ceptimus]

He said the wing isn't really stable enough for take off. It has gone into a spin several times during testing. That's why he likes to jump out of a plane at around 10,000 feet so that if something goes wrong, he has time to sort it out.

But he thinks with a new more stable wing it may be possible to take off. The wing flies at over 100mph so one possibility is that he will lie on the roof of a sports car and lift off once the car gets up to around 120mph.