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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Flying Frenchman fails in Channel crossing bid

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SANGATTE, France: A daredevil French inventor on Thursday failed in his attempt to fly across the Channel standing on a jet-powered “flyboard”, crashing into the sea but vowing to try again.


Franky Zapata, 40, a former jet-skiing champion, had to be fished out of the Channel by rescuers after falling into the busy shipping lane between France and Britain during a tricky refuelling manouevre.


But Zapata, who suffered only a scratched elbow, said afterwards that while he was “disappointed” he would be having another go in the future.


Zapata took off successfully from Sangatte in northern France and had planned to land in Britain at St Margaret’s Bay outside Dover after a flight of just 20 minutes.


But the refuelling was always set to be one of the most difficult parts of the operation and Zapata made contact with the refuelling platform due to the waves, forcing him into the sea.


“I am disappointed. Now it’s certain that I will cross again but I don’t know when. I will need to renegotiate with everyone,” he said after being taken back to France.


Zapata had hoped to make the 35-kilometre crossing in 20 minutes, keeping an average speed of 140 kilometres an hour at a height of 15-20 metres above the water.


The flyboard is fuelled by kerosene stored in the rider’s backpack.


Zapata carried 47 kilos of it on Thursday. But as that would only take him part of the way across the Channel, he needed to pick up a new backpack in mid-Channel for the second half of the trip.


“I think it was just a case of a few metres, even a few centimetres,” said the mayor of Sangatte, Guy Allemand, after the mid-Channel mishap was confirmed.


“Divers jumped right out of the boat to get him back. It was very, very fast,” he said.


In a scene resembling a science fiction film, Zapata had zoomed into the sky at the start of attempt wearing a full body suit, helmet and clutching a joystick to control the device.


Onlookers in Sangatte gasped in astonishment as he soared high above the sea and rapidly became just a tiny speck on the horizon.


— AFP


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