After an unsuccessful attempt last month, French inventor and former jet ski racing champion Franky Zapata succeeded Sunday in flying across the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard he designed.
Zapata, dubbed by some as “Green Goblin” due to his hoverboard’s similarity to the Spider-Man villain, zoomed over the Strait of Dover in just over 20 minutes, Reuters reported.
Zapata took off from Sangatte, just outside Calais in France on a little platform powered by five small jet engines and carrying kerosene in a backpack. After a stop on a boat halfway through the roughly 21-mile crossing, Zapata reached Britain and landed safely in Saint Margaret’s Bay, close to Dover on Britain’s southern coast.
“For the last five to six kilometers I just really enjoyed it,” Zapata told reporters on arrival, according to Reuters. “Whether this is a historic event or not, I’m not the one to decide that, time will tell.”
Zapata said the hoverboard reached speeds of 160 to 170 km per hour (99 to 105 miles per hour) during the crossing.
On his previous attempt in July, Zapata fell into the sea while trying to refuel halfway across the water.
A member of the Frenchman’s team said the movement of the waves required perfect timing, and the landing platform apparently shifted slightly as Zapata descended.
Zapata received a $1.4 million grant from the French government to help finance the development of the hoverboard.
French hoverboard star Franky Zapata cries during a press conference after he successfully crossed the Channel from France to England using a hoverboard on August 4th, 2019 in Calais, France. (Photo Credit: Aurelien Meunier / Getty Images)
“We made a machine three years ago…and now we’ve crossed the Channel, it’s crazy,” he said, visibly emotional.
Zapata’s attempt was part of the 110th anniversary of the very first cross-channel flight. French aviator Louis Bleriot made the first airplane flight across the channel on July 25, 1909.
The French daredevil said it not yet clear what the hoverboard might be used for, adding that it was a complex invention that the average person would unlikely to be able to navigate.
“It’s not a machine for trip down to the bakery on a Sunday morning,” Zapata told France’s BFM TV in an interview.
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