Are you game for sports that instill thrill and make you go through an adrenaline rush? If the answer is yes then ‘wingboarding’ is the kind of adventure sport you should be looking at. It has been developed by Wyp Aviation – a startup company that aims at taking aviation to the next level. The WingBoard allows the user to have a stable platform under the feet that will fly through the air.
It’s a hybrid of skysurfing and wakeboarding actually if you look at it objectively. The user will be towed by a plane while surfing through the sky. The sport has been designed to mimic the comic book superhero Silver Surfer who was able to traverse through space using his surfboard-shaped craft.
According to the founder and lead engineer Aaron Wypyszynski, “The WingBoard is like a wakeboard, but instead of slicing through waves behind a boat, you’re being towed by a plane, carving through clouds.”
Aaron is 31 years old and is a flight test engineer by profession. He has been passionate about aviation ever since he began building Lego airplanes (at the age of four). His spare time is spent in his workshop where he puts in time and effort to making his aviation dreams come true. According to him, his inspiration for developing WingBoard came from the cartoon, Talespin.
As of now, Aaron has constructed a scale model of the WingBoard that ‘combines the ability of a wakeboard or a snowboard and brings it to three dimensions.’ It does so by working with a system of cables that enable it to be towed behind an aircraft. It is stable enough to withstand the weight of one person while doing so. It features wheels at its bottom that allow it to become airborne and houses a parachute for making it back to ground safely. The user also requires a parachute for getting back to ground safely.
The mock-up version has been successful in the test run and carried out barrel rolls behind an aircraft. Aaron is trying to raise $275,000 for creating the first prototype. Aaron says, “There has been no way to truly fly behind an aircraft. You can strap on a snowboard to your feet and go surfing, but really what you are doing is falling. WingBoard is the only opportunity where you can stand with the wind in your face and control yourself in the sky.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOc70FCUGOU
