Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Hoverboarder Crashes in Bid to Fly Over English Channel, Vows to Try Again
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 6 years ago on
July 25, 2019

Share

SANGATTE, France — Looking like a superhero, the French inventor of an airborne hoverboard glided partway over the English Channel on his personal flying machine then crashed in the sea Thursday.

“I felt really great. It’s just fantastic. I was flying. It was like a dream.” — Franky Zapata
Unharmed and undeterred, 40-year-old Franky Zapata said he plans to try again. Perhaps within days.
The inventor collided with a refueling boat just a few hours into his flight, destroying his transportation, a homemade version of the Flyboard his company sells commercially.
After being rescued from the Channel’s choppy waters, Zapata smiled and said, “We won’t give up until we succeed.”
Zapata took off to cross the Channel from the French coastal town of Sangatte. From afar, it looked like he was skateboarding on the sky.
He hoped to travel 22.4 miles to the Dover area in southeast England. Propelled by a power pack full of kerosene, he planned to refuel from a boat partway across.
“I felt really great. It’s just fantastic,” Zapata told reporters later of the experience. “I was flying. It was like a dream.”
Photo of Franky Zapata at the start of his attempt to cross the channel from France to England
Inventor Franky Zapata takes to the air in Sangatte, Northern France, at the start of his attempt to cross the Channel from France to England on Thursday. (AP Photo/Michel Spingler)

Plans to Build a New Board, Prepare a New Trip

Reaching speeds up to 110 mph, he traveled some 20 kilometers, more than halfway to the English shore. That’s farther than he had ever traveled on his air-board.

Zapata wowed crowds in Paris on Bastille Day, whirling over European leaders on his flying hoverboard. But crossing the windy, ship-filled Channel was a much bigger challenge.
But as he descended for a refueling stop on a boat, the platform he was meant to land on was moving too much from waves. He wasn’t able to grab onto it, and he plunged into the sea.
Zapata winced as he described the “disaster.” He said his helmet filled with water and he struggled for breath. But he came away from the rescue by French divers with just a scratch on his arm.
“It’s hard to swallow,” he acknowledged. But as a former jet ski champion, Zapata said he knows how to “learn from your mistakes.”
He plans to go back to his workshop as soon as Friday to build a new board and prepare a new trip, possibly within days.
Zapata wowed crowds in Paris on Bastille Day, whirling over European leaders on his flying hoverboard. But crossing the windy, ship-filled Channel was a much bigger challenge.
He scheduled Thursday’s flight to coincide with the 110th anniversary of the first flight across the Channel, by French aviator Louis Bleriot on July 25, 1909 — who also left from Sangatte. The beach where Zapata took off Thursday bears Bleriot’s name.
Noting that Bleriot also had several failed flying attempts, Zapata said, “Aviation is made by people who suffer failures, and advance by rising again.”

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Silence on E. Coli Outbreak Highlights How Trump Team’s Changes Undermine Food Safety

DON'T MISS

Fresno Man Pleads Guilty to $1 Million PPP Loan Fraud

DON'T MISS

Iran Hangs a Man Convicted of Spying for Israel

DON'T MISS

California Opens Track-and-Field Finals to More Girls After Success of Trans Athlete

DON'T MISS

US Gun Trafficking Fuels Mexican Cartel Violence and Migration Crisis

DON'T MISS

Bills QB Josh Allen’s Wedding to Hailee Steinfeld Coming Up Fast

DON'T MISS

Tate Brothers Face Rape and Trafficking Charges in the UK

DON'T MISS

Elon Musk Criticizes Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ a Fracture in a Key Relationship

DON'T MISS

Different Night, Same Score: Punchless Giants Fall to the Tigers, 3-1.

DON'T MISS

Clovis Apartment Fire Displaces Residents, Damages 8 Units

UP NEXT

US and Russia Clash in Public as the Ukraine War Heats Up

UP NEXT

Trump Pardons Tax Cheat After Mother Attends $1 Million Dinner

UP NEXT

Ireland to Press Ahead With Trade Ban on Israeli-Occupied Areas

UP NEXT

Palestinians Flock to US-Backed Aid Centers Despite Concern Over Checks

UP NEXT

Germany Threatens Steps Against Israel as Tone Shifts Over Gaza

UP NEXT

NPR Sues Trump Administration Over Executive Order to Cut Funding

UP NEXT

Far-Right Israelis Confront Palestinians, Other Israelis in Chaotic Jerusalem March

UP NEXT

Palestinians to Raise Flag at WHO for the First Time After Vote

UP NEXT

Hamas Agrees to US Proposal on Gaza Ceasefire, Palestinian Official Says

UP NEXT

18 Injured in Knife Attack in Hamburg, Report Says

California Opens Track-and-Field Finals to More Girls After Success of Trans Athlete

2 hours ago

US Gun Trafficking Fuels Mexican Cartel Violence and Migration Crisis

2 hours ago

Bills QB Josh Allen’s Wedding to Hailee Steinfeld Coming Up Fast

2 hours ago

Tate Brothers Face Rape and Trafficking Charges in the UK

2 hours ago

Elon Musk Criticizes Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ a Fracture in a Key Relationship

2 hours ago

Different Night, Same Score: Punchless Giants Fall to the Tigers, 3-1.

2 hours ago

Clovis Apartment Fire Displaces Residents, Damages 8 Units

3 hours ago

Valley Crime Stoppers’ Most Wanted Person of the Day: Yer Vue

3 hours ago

Ford Recalls Nearly 1.1 Million Vehicles Over Rearview Camera Software Issue

3 hours ago

US to Issue Visa Bans for Foreign Nationals Who ‘Censor’ Americans, Rubio Says

4 hours ago

Silence on E. Coli Outbreak Highlights How Trump Team’s Changes Undermine Food Safety

Colton George felt sick. The 9-year-old Indiana boy told his parents his stomach hurt. He kept running to the bathroom and felt too ill to f...

11 minutes ago

11 minutes ago

Silence on E. Coli Outbreak Highlights How Trump Team’s Changes Undermine Food Safety

56 minutes ago

Fresno Man Pleads Guilty to $1 Million PPP Loan Fraud

1 hour ago

Iran Hangs a Man Convicted of Spying for Israel

2 hours ago

California Opens Track-and-Field Finals to More Girls After Success of Trans Athlete

2 hours ago

US Gun Trafficking Fuels Mexican Cartel Violence and Migration Crisis

Josh Allen and Hailee Steinfeld on the Red Carpet
2 hours ago

Bills QB Josh Allen’s Wedding to Hailee Steinfeld Coming Up Fast

2 hours ago

Tate Brothers Face Rape and Trafficking Charges in the UK

2 hours ago

Elon Musk Criticizes Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill,’ a Fracture in a Key Relationship

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend