French inventor Franky Zapata made an ambitious attempt to become the first man to cross the English Channel on a hoverboard he called Flyboard Air which is powered by five small jet engines and fuelled by kerosene kept in the rider’s backpack..
In a report by BBC, the 40-year-old inventor hoped to cross the channel in 20 minutes as he took off from near Calais and was heading for St Margaret’s Bay in Dover when he fell into the water halfway across in an attempt to land on a boat to refuel.
He was reportedly aiming to keep an average speed of 87mph (140km/h) while travelling 15-20m (50-65ft) above the water when it was announced, after a few minutes from his set off, that he had failed.
🇫🇷🇬🇧 HAPPENING NOW: “Flyboard” creator Franky Zapata lifts off from Calais, France to cross the English Channel @frankyzapata #flyboardair pic.twitter.com/j3l96lURa3
— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) July 25, 2019
A member of his team said that the inventor must have missed the platform by just a few centimeters. “It is a huge disappointment,” he said, mentioning how they practiced the maneuver several times in heavier seas.
Despite his failed attempt, Zapata said that he will give it another shot and will be focusing on refuelling.
“We proved [to] ourselves that our plan is OK. The problem now is the refuelling, so we have to focus on refuelling and do it again, next week,” Zapata told BBC.
(Photo source: theverge.com/ Twitter – @tictoc)
