French inventor fails to cross English Channel on flyboard

Zapata scheduled flight to coincide with the 110th anniversary of the first flight across channel.

Sangatte: A French aviation inventor Franky Zapata on Thursday tried to cross the English Channel on a homemade jet-powered "flyboard" but failed halfway through.

Zapata took off from Sangatte in northern France while standing on the hoverboard powered by five-turbine engines, with 42 liters of kerosene in his backpack, enough for about 10 minutes of flight. He planned to reach Dover in England in 20 minutes.

The 40-year-old inventor failed to land on the boat to refuel the machine to soar above the remaining distance.Due to waves, the platform hit the flyboard while Zapata was landing and overbalanced him before he fell into the sea.The ships were able to recover him very quickly. Physically, Zapata is unharmed.Zapata said, "So we failed, we are sad about that, but on the other hand, we realized the farthest flight ever on a flyboarder. We did 20.2 kilometers. We were careful with the work behind the flight."The English Channel is the body of water that separates southern England from northern France.French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said, "the jet-powered hoverboard can allow tests for different kinds of uses, for example as a flying logistical platform or as an assault platform."Zapata scheduled flight to coincide with the 110th anniversary of the first flight across channel.On July 25, 1909, aviator Louis Bleriot took off from France and landed in England.