Franky Zapata to retry crossing the English Channel with Flyboard

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Franky Zapata to retry crossing the English Channel with Flyboard


After his breathtaking demonstration on July 14 on the Champs Elysees in front of the presidential stage, Franky Zapata, unparalleled French inventor, sets himself a new challenge: the Channel crossing on July 25, 2019, with its Flyboard from Calais (France) to Dover (UK), 110 years after the first successful crossing by the French pilot and airplane designer Louis Bleriot.

Speed: 100- 140 km/h
Kerosene: 47 kg
Distance: 35 km
Duration: 20 min
Altitude: 15-20 metres
Departure time: 6:00-8:00 am, July 25, 2019.
Departure: Sangatte, France
Destination: Dover, U.K.

▲ 1. 14 juillet: le spectacle époustouflant de Franky Zapata sur son "Flyboard". Published on Jul 14, 2019

▲ 2. Franky Zapata vient de décoller pour sa traversée de la Manche en Flyboard. Published on Jul 25, 2019


Only a few weeks ago, French inventor and former military reservist Franky Zapata was drawing comparisons to the Green Goblin for the way he flew a hoverboard through Paris during last month’s Bastille Day festivities. Zapata, who invented a jet-powered hoverboard called the Flyboard Air that’s powered by five small engines and steered with a handheld remote control, had bigger ambitions than that for his contraption, though.

His dream: To be the first man to cross the English Channel on a hoverboard. He took off this morning from near the town of Calais, while onlookers watched, held their breath and waited to see if he’d make it across to St. Margaret’s Bay on the English coast (Narrator: He didn’t).

Zapata had hoped to make the crossing in honor of the 110th anniversary of the first-ever flight across the channel by a French pilot back in 1909. Zapata even took off Thursday from a beach named after that pilot, Louis Bleriot.


His crash came about as a result of having to make a single stop at the halfway point of his crossing so he could refuel his hoverboard. He was meant to land on a platform in the middle of the channel, but the waves made it rock so much that Zapata was unable to land on it and ended up in the water. Perhaps most heartbreaking, Zapata reportedly missed landing on the platform by only a few centimeters.

He was rescued by French divers, according to his wife Christelle Zapata who told The Associated Press that failures like this are to be expected when inventing something and that Zapata “will do it again. He never sits back after a failure.” Also keenly watching his effort, in addition to the general public, was the French military, believe it or not. They’ve actually expressed an interest in studying how the hoverboard might practically be used in combat, just because this story wasn’t already extraordinary enough.

▲ 3. Franky Zapata is "disappointed" but he promises to retry crossing the English Channel with Flyboard very soon. Published on Jul 25, 2019

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

 

[Vergennes]

The second time was the good one! congratz.

French 'flying man' Zapata successfully crosses the English Channel on hoverboard

https://www.france24.com/en/2019080...ccessfully-crosses-english-channel-hoverboard

 

[Galactic Penguin SST]

4TH AUGUST 2019 Historic First Crossing Of The English Channel By Flyboarding!

Mis à jour le 04/08/2019 | 09:33

After his failure on July 25, Franky Zapata said he worked more than 15 hours a day with his team to avoid the same mistake. The French flying man managed to cross the English Channel on his Flyboard, Sunday, August 4th, a first. It took him about twenty minutes to travel the 35 km separating Sangatte (Pas-de-Calais) from St Margaret's Bay, near Dover.

"I'm tired, I need a vacation," he joked when he arrived, where many journalists were waiting for him.

A crossing at 160-170 km/h

The Flyboard, a flying machine of its invention that the general public discovered during the parade of 14th July, is a small platform with five mini-turbojets, which allow it to take off and evolve up to 190 km/h. It allows him to fly over the sea at an altitude of between 15 and 20 meters. Sunday, he made his crossing at 160-170 km/h, he estimated at his arrival.

The device has an autonomy of about ten minutes. Crossing the Channel therefore requires refueling kerosene - which he stores in his backpack - along the way, landing on a boat. On July 25, it was this stage that had been fatal: he had fallen by hitting the supply platform where he wanted to land.

This time, the obstacle was not fatal. Franky Zapata had chosen a "bigger" boat to facilitate this refueling. "We're going to position the boat differently from the waves, I'm going to approach the platform with a different trajectory," he explained on Saturday. He felt he was "much more likely" to succeed "than last time".

Former world and European jet ski champion, 40-year-old Franky Zapata had never managed a sea crossing like this before on his Flyboard Air. Before creating this model, he had created a first aquatic Flyboard, propelled in height "by the jet of the turbine of a marine motorbike".

http://web.archive.org/web/20190804...fr/image/75nizfv08-9dec/1200/450/19817015.jpg ; https://archive.fo/nVEw3/76d236b94323f7501ea5c77358cb106ef4443544.jpg
▲ 1. Historic crossing of the English Channel bt Flyboard. 4 August 2019

https://www.francetvinfo.fr/sports/...machine-volante-qu-il-a-inventee_3564171.html

http://web.archive.org/web/20190804112856if_/http://ipic.su/img/img7/fs/frankyzapata.1564918103.jpg ; https://archive.is/MnP75/432f7c9e0237319ec292970a26e6f6db7fc73ad1.jpg
▲ 2. Historic crossing of the English Channel bt Flyboard, map. France2 TV 4 August 2019

Short Video 2 minutes

▲ 3. Les images du vol de Francky Zapata au-dessus de la Manche. Published on Aug 4, 2019



Historic Full Length Video 55 minutes

▲ 4. Live: Franky Zapata's second try on Flyboard channel crossing法国“飞人”再次挑战飞跃英吉利海峡
At T=27min 40s : takeoff
At T=49min 50s : arrival


First successful crossing and in the spotlight of tens of tv cameras he lands behind a tree where nobody can see it!

Video WITH landing footage!

▲ 5. First footage of the landing! Published on Aug 4, 2019



Background

The Boulogne Camp

Boulogne-sur-mer, a small town like the others in the Pas-de-Calais? Surely not ! It is from this modest coastal city that the Emperor prepared the invasion of England between 1803 and 1804 ... And he did not hesitate to deploy all the power of the fantastic French military arsenal as the latest progress scientists, more surprising than others, in order to carry out its project and put an end to the Franco-British war.

The key dates:
•May 16, 1803: Collapse of the peace of Amiens
•August 28, 1805: The army of the Côtes de l'Océan leaves Boulogne and takes the name of "Grande Armée"
•October 21, 1805: Naval defeat of Trafalgar ruining the hopes of landing in England

The impossible peace with England

Despite the signing of the peace of Amiens on March 25, 1802, the war with England is inevitable in the third year of the Consulate. The British leaders reopen hostilities on May 16, 1803, barely a year after the signing of the treaty, and plunder many French merchant ships. The treaties are no longer respected across the Channel, Napoleon decides "to seek peace in London."
He plans then the invasion of the British islands since the Pas-de-Calais and reconstitutes the Army of the Coasts of the Ocean (an old army of the Revolution created in 1795), massaging always more men on the beaches of the North from France.

Military camps multiplied in 1803 to accommodate more and more soldiers. Among these facilities, the most famous is Boulogne-sur-Mer, starting point of the expedition. For two long years, the soldiers lead a rough life, devoting their entire days to military exercises and maneuvers, before the descent into England, which must now be delayed: it is scheduled between August 8 and 18, 1805.


The invasion plan

It must not be forgotten, however, that the aim of the Boulogne camp is above all to prepare a landing in England, not out of conquest, but to obtain peace. The Emperor plans, initially, a classic invasion by means of boats to cross the Channel: he orders the construction of 2000 vessels capable of carrying guns, horses, and of course the infantry stationed in the camps. But Napoleon is quickly conquered by hot air balloons whose recent successes herald a golden future. Employed at Fleurus for the very first time as simple observation balloons, they are then carried away by Bonaparte in his campaigns (a company of balloonists makes the trip to Egypt), before being shelved by the Directory in June 1799 because too vulnerable to bullets.

Napoleon is also thinking of creating a tunnel under the Channel, but the project, too colossal, will never see the day of the Emperor's lifetime. It is ultimately on flat-bottomed boats that he chooses: he must therefore ensure control of the Channel during the crossing. A formidable strategist, he simulates an attack on the Antilles by the fleets of Admiral Ganteaume; the maneuver must compel England to send her battleships based in the English Channel to the Pacific.

Once the English coast is vulnerable, it only needs to recall a fleet to protect its transport vessels. But the ships in question, departing from Cadiz under the command of Admiral Villeneuve, will never arrive at their destination, forced to turn back by Admiral Nelson. He besieged them in the harbor and eventually crushed them in an attempt to escape to the Battle of Trafalgar on October 21, 1805.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190804...ca.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8413295f/f1.highres ; https://archive.fo/XTByl/ae25fdcbd49e851d1f881c4ef4fa2ea0a386e44c.highres ; https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8413295f
▲ 6. Various projects on the descent in England: [print]

http://web.archive.org/web/20190804...oresque.com/IMG/jpg/Abdication-Napoleon-2.jpg ; https://archive.fo/wB9ZA/b199dda4c17b854faed6f2ac8134cd3a9577669a.jpg
▲ 7. The invasion of the British Isles quickly proved impossible due to the presence of a natural barrier: the Channel.

https://www.napopedia.fr/fr/Campagnes/boulogne


Trivia

2:40 AM - 5 Mar 2019

Unfortunately, this can happen when you continually push the limits! I have been seriously injured (8 ribs and two vertebrae broken, fractured pelvis and an hemothorax) but I will get through it !
Hope to fly within 8 weeks

https://twitter.com/frankyzapata/status/1102881627053719554
​

http://web.archive.org/web/20190804124841if_/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D044_LFXgAEvkKL.jpg ; https://archive.fo/wz2YD/af54bfcfd2f544c5cdc4c59690516d1be00a36c4.jpg
▲ 8. Back on March 5th, 2019, 8 ribs and two vertebrae broken, fractured pelvis and an hemothorax.

http://web.archive.org/web/20190804125052if_/https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D044_LFW0AUZR6D.jpg ; https://archive.fo/aEogY/46ad6024b7d143aa6be3bbd26471169c4cf439d8.jpg
▲ 9. Back on March 5th, 2019, 8 ribs and two vertebrae broken, fractured pelvis and an hemothorax.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/...glish-channel-jet-powered-hoverboard-n1039041

SANGATTE, France — 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 early Sunday morning, 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 kilometres 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 refuelling with another backpack halfway through the 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, 40, is dubbed "Flyman" by French media.

He wowed crowds during France's Bastille Day celebrations on July 14 by soaring over a military parade in Paris on the device.

He told Le Parisien newspaper last month that Bastille Day was “easy” in comparison to crossing the English Channel.

“I used 3 percent of the capacity of the machine, while for crossing the Channel I’ll need 99.9 percent,” he said, adding that he believed he had a 30 percent chance of making it across to England.

The hoverboard is powered by five small jet engines and has a 1500 horsepower, according to Reuters. Zapata steers his craft by leaning forward or backward and controls the thrust with a throttle, the news agency added.

At first, French maritime authorities refused to permit the flight saying it was too dangerous to cross because of the number of vessels in the Channel, according to Le Parisien.

The Channel is one of the world's busiest shipping lanes.

The former jet ski champion's first bid to cross the approximately 22 mile stretch of water on a hoverboard was meant to coincide with the 110th anniversary of the first-ever flight across the English Channel in an airplane, achieved by Louis Blériot

 

[gangsta_rap]

tldr

 

[Humble Analyst]

Progress is the part which keeps the human race going.