Franky Zapata who attempted to cross the English Channel using his flyboard recently will be attempting to cross the English Channel for the second time again. His flyboard can travel at speeds that go over 100 mph mark. Franky Zapata is known as the Flyman and wanted to cross the English Channel to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the very first instance an airplane flight flew across the Channel.
Flyman has said that crossing the Channel using his flyboard is the realization of his dream but also added that he is stressed while he prepares for his second attempt for the flight slated for Sunday. Last week, Flyman was unable to cross the Channel and ended in the water when he missed the mark for his refueling. He was uninjured and remained motivated. For this time, Zapata and his team will be using a bigger boat for the refueling landing.
Flyman will have to stop halfway during the twenty-minute flight for the sake of refueling. The Kerosene tank that is used by Zapata for powering his flyboard only lasts for ten minutes at an average speed of 87 mph. The flyboard can, reportedly, go to speeds of 118 mph. Our readers would remember Flyman because of his demonstration during the Bastille Day celebrations, where he had impressed the French President. However, the Bastille Day demonstration required only 3% of the flyboard’s output whereas he needs 99% output for the crossing of the English Channel.
Zapata says that he believes that he has a 30% chance of success for this attempt as well. He had plans of refueling once in England and once in France but a ruling by the maritime prefecture; he will only be able to refuel once. He already has the title of longest flight on hoverboard where he flew 2,252.4 meters in 2016. He will become the first man to cross the English Channel using a jet-powered hoverboard if he succeeds!