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French Inventor Sails on his Flyboard Above Champs-Elysees During Bastille Parade
Franky Zapata flew his invention, a turbine engine powered flyboard, above the Champs-Elysees showing off [phys.org] to President Emmanual Macon, Angela Merkel and other EU leaders to steal the show at the Bastille Day military parade in central Paris.
Zapata, who first developed his device flying above water, says that the flyboard has the power to take off and reach speeds up to 190 kilometres an hour (118 mph) and run for 10 minutes.
The flyboard is closer to the 'Goblin Glider' from Spider Man than Marty McFly's hoverboard in both appearance and performance.
Videos of [youtube.com] the flight [youtube.com]
Zapata who was awarded €1.3 million in 2018 to develop an 'aeronautical micro-jet engine' that could be used by the military pointedly held a rifle during the flight, highlighting the potential military uses of the technology.
He is currently eyeing making a crossing of the English channel, although this will require refuelling in flight. The target date is July 25, 110 years to the day after Louis Bleriot made historically made the same flight for the first time in an airplane.
Previous Hoverboard Related Coverage [soylentnews.org]
