Franky Zapata, the 40-year-old inventor of Flyboard Air, best known as the “French personal watercraft pilot,” has recently experienced a serious crash during an air show on the weekend in Biscarosse, France. He was showing off his magnificent lifting skills on his Flyboard when suddenly, it developed a fault in the air and ceased to work. This all happened as he reached an altitude of 20 m (66 ft) when the flying board started to fall down, but how gracefully he managed to fall is remarkable. Take a look at the video below to witness this incident:
As you can see in the video, Zapata began spinning faster as his flying board was falling towards the ground to lessen the impact of height and reduce his speed as well. But thanks to his exceptional skills. He mastered his fall by not lingering in another direction. Otherwise, the outcome would have been disastrous. The rescue services immediately came for the relief operation and took him to the nearby hospital for first aid treatment and further analysis.
Talking about the specifications of the Zapata’s Jetboard Air, it has a separate block or a type of backpack for fuel with the boots attached to the board to balance the control during flight. There is a small jet turbine as well on every enclosed part which is responsible for providing thrust during an upswing climb.
It’s not the first occasion when Zapata embraced the audience with his majestic fall. A few years back, when he was attempting to cross the English Channel to fill the fuel on his flying board; he tried to land on the support boat, but he couldn’t manage that landing due to unreasonable wind conditions and he fell off. That was, however, a near-to-minor fall, but the risk of serious injury was already there, as happened recently. Unquestionably, he is lucky enough to escape from a nearby disaster every time in a smooth manner, but also due to his incredible mastery of flying boards, which we should not forget.
However, after recovering completely from this recent incident, Zapata made a hilarious comeback on his Twitter and amused the audience. His tweet reads, “Good evening, everyone. Thank you for your messages, I’m fine. This reminds us that we’re not birds and that if we’re not excellent, it’s gravity that wins. Finally, a good Sunday of rest, and on Monday it starts again! We can only learn from mistakes, and we shouldn’t think we can change mobility without making a few! Thanks to my rescuers, you made sure I didn’t ‘drink from the big cup.’ I’m sorry for the public, who were inconvenienced, but I promise this is only a postponement!”
