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this article at national geographic sets out what he intended to ..
[news.nationalgeographic.com ]
and he did :)
jet chouette Yves !
What an amazing feat. I can't wait to watch it. I'd be real concerned about objects in my flight path like birds and such. Did he make the trip without any issues?
you can see it in windows media player if you are using firefox ..opera etc ..dont know on mac or linux etc
his crossing went with no problems ..but he did say that professional parachutist might consider his landing to be a little sedate ..he also said he is working on reducing the weight of the wing ( he thinks it's cumbersome as it is ) and says he will be jetting around somemore ..
ps for those who may be wondering why a parachute landing? ..he would have to be one hall of a runner and half gooney bird to touchdown on land any otherway ..
in an interview I saw yesterday he called his attempt today at the channel crossing his "hat tip" to Blériot"..
in interviews he comes over a a really modest quiet sort of guy ..
original news item announcing the success here ..in french [nord-pas-de-calais-picardie.france3.fr]
if I find another link ..maybe with english language or maybe of the entire flight ..and lawman Mike is OK with it ..I'll post it ?
[edited by: Leosghost at 1:58 pm (utc) on Sep. 26, 2008]
His landing was perfect, I am truly amazed at what this guy just did!
I've been watching all the WingSuit stuff on Cable. It looks like personal human flight is right around the corner for the average consumer eh? Nah, they say you have to make 100 parachute jumps before putting on that WingSuit. I wonder what the qualifications will be for a JetSuit?
Air Traffic Control just went to a new level! Commercial aircraft now have to worry about people in JetSuits getting sucked into their turbines like the birds do. :(
The BBC has some footage, too.
[news.bbc.co.uk...]
Fly at 140 MPH over the English Channel ..without a plane ..
that was the double (scientific and sports ) exploit by Yves Rossy today 26 sept 2008.
Released at around 8000 ft altitude over Calais, using a carbon fiber wing
( equipped with 4 miniature jet engines of just over 20lbs thrust each ) he made himself,
he landed at Dover ..99 years after Blériot ..
Yves Rossy AKA "jet man" or "fusionman" swiss ex fighter pilot ( now civil pilot ) etc etc ..
BTW he did this with no instruments ..chasing a civilian plane that "showed him the way" ..
he called off the attempt he made yesterday as he couldnt see the "leader" plane due to too
much cloud ..( he carried just enough fuel to make Dover from Calais in a dead straight line )..
if he he'd lost sight of the plane he would have had to come down in the sea ..and as he said yesterday ..
" in that case the plane that was following me also couldn't see me and I would probably drown ..
before I could get the wing off of myself"..today was clear sky ..and he made history :)
The Jet Man has a website as well (French).
http://jet-man.com/
The wing had no rudder or tail fin, so Mr Rossy had to steer it using his head and back. As well as a helmet and parachute, he wore a special suit to protect him from the four kerosene-burning turbines mounted just centimetres from him on the wing.
