This French Inventor Is Going to Fly His Jet Pack Across the English Channel

Back to the Future II predicted we’d have flying hoverboards by 2015. When that year finally came along, we got self-balancing scooters that spontaneously burst into flames instead, and for reasons still unclear, decided to call them hoverboards.

But now, Frenchman Franky Zapata — a modern Phileas Fogg — is looking to right that wrong. You might remember Zapata as the father of hydroflight; his company built the Flyboard, which uses water-jet propulsion to send a rider close to 50 feet in the air. They also released a levitating jet ski last year, which employs a similar technology.

But Zapata wants his dominion to extend to the skies, too. In 2016, he first debuted the gas turbine-powered Flyboard Air, traveling 1.4 miles by air, a Guinness World Record for a hoverboard flight. There was radio silence for a while on the development, until a couple weeks ago, when he flew the Flyboard Air over Paris as part of the city’s Bastille Day celebrations. And this Thursday, Zapata is going to attempt the unthinkable; a flight across the English Channel.

For starters, this thing looks legit. He’s legitimately f*cking flying in that video, and has got a Tony Stark/Green Goblin vibes vibe going on (let’s hope, for our sake, he identifies with the former). Apparently, though, his flight in Paris only used 3 percent of the hoverboard’s flight capabilities. A journey over the Channel, meanwhile will require it to max out and use 99.9 percent of its capabilities. He doesn’t even think he can do it; Zapata estimated he’s got about a 30% chance of completing the trip.

If he does land safely in Dover, it’ll only take 20 minutes. The Flyboard travels at speeds of 87-mph, and is backed by five turbo engines that produce 250-horsepower each. Good luck, Franky.

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