Looking like a superhero, the French inventor of
an airborne hoverboard glided partway over the
English Channel on his personal flying machine
then crashed in the sea.
Unharmed and undeterred, 40-year-old Franky
Zapata said he plans to try again. Perhaps
within days.
The inventor collided with a refueling boat
just a few hours into his flight, destroying his
transportation, a homemade version of the
Flyboard his company sells commercially.
After being rescued from the Channel’s choppy
waters, Zapata smiled and said, “We won’t give
up until we succeed.”
Zapata took off to cross the Channel from the
French coastal town of Sangatte. From afar, it
looked like he was skateboarding on the sky.
He hoped to travel 36 kilometers (22.4 miles) to
the Dover area in southeast England. Propelled
by a power pack full of kerosene, he planned to
refuel from a boat partway across.
“I felt really great. It’s just fantastic,” Zapata told
reporters later of the experience. “I was flying. It
was like a dream.”Image: Michel Spingler