See also
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- Hoverboard
- Flyboard, a hydroflight hoverboard hydrojetpack
- JetLev
- Jet pack
Flyboard Air is a type of jetpack/hoverboard powered by gas turbines. [1] It was invented by French water-craft rider Franky Zapata, founder of Zapata racing.
It achieved a Guinness World Record for farthest flight by hoverboard in April 2016 of 2,252.4 m (7,389.8 ft; 2,463.3 yd; 1.4 mi). [2] Zapata Racing claims that it allows flight up to an altitude of 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) and has a top speed of 150 km/h (93 mph). It also has 10 minutes' endurance. [3] The load capacity is 102 kg (225 lb). The "jet-powered hoverboard" is powered by five turbines and is fueled by kerosene. [4]
Zapata participated in the 2019 Bastille Day military parade riding his invention. [5] His attempt to cross the English Channel on 25 July 2019 failed as he fell into the sea at the refuelling platform. [6] [7] A second crossing attempt on 4 August 2019 succeeded. [8] Escorted by French Army helicopters and using a backpack fuel reservoir, he accomplished the journey – 35 kilometres (22 mi) – with one refueling stop at the midpoint. Zapata reached a speed of 177 km/h (110 mph) during the 20-minute flight. The trip started at Sangatte in the Pas-de-Calais department in France and concluded at St Margaret's at Cliffe in Kent, United Kingdom where he landed safely. [9] [10]
Zapata's company, Z-AIR, had received a €1.3 million grant from the French military. However, he has said that the flyboard was not yet ready for military use due to the noise it creates and the challenge of learning how to fly the device. [11] In a France Inter radio interview, France's Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly said the flyboard might eventually be suitable, "for example as a flying logistical platform or, indeed, as an assault platform". [12]
In 2017, Zapata had provided the U.S. Army with demonstrations of the Flyboard Air "jet-powered hoverboard" or "jet-powered personal aerial vehicle", referred to as the EZ-Fly; [13] news reports suggested the price per unit might be $250,000. [14] A July 2019 report provided no indication of any serious interest by the American military as of that time for this new technology. [15]
On 4 August 2019, Zapata told BFM TV that he was working on building a flying car, that he hoped to introduce before year-end. He said that he had flown a prototype chassis powered by four gas turbines but the final model would employ ten turbines in order to cruise at 310–400 kilometres per hour (190–250 mph), and achieve a range of about 110 kilometres (68 mi). [16]
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet of heated gas that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include rocket, water jet, and hybrid propulsion, the term jet engine typically refers to an internal combustion air-breathing jet engine such as a turbojet, turbofan, ramjet, pulse jet, or scramjet. In general, jet engines are internal combustion engines.
Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of the money he made to finance his attempts to build a successful aircraft. Blériot was the first to use the combination of hand-operated joystick and foot-operated rudder control as used to the present day to operate the aircraft control surfaces. Blériot was also the first to make a working, powered, piloted monoplane. In 1909 he became world-famous for making the first airplane flight across the English Channel, winning the prize of £1,000 offered by the Daily Mail newspaper. He was the founder of Blériot Aéronautique, a successful aircraft manufacturing company.
A jet aircraft is an aircraft propelled by one or more jet engines.
The history of aviation extends for more than two thousand years, from the earliest forms of aviation such as kites and attempts at tower jumping to supersonic and hypersonic flight by powered, heavier-than-air jets.
The Coandă-1910, designed by Romanian inventor Henri Coandă, was an unconventional sesquiplane aircraft powered by a ducted fan. Called the "turbo-propulseur" by Coandă, its experimental engine consisted of a conventional piston engine driving a multi-bladed centrifugal blower which exhausted into a duct. The unusual aircraft attracted attention at the Second International Aeronautical Exhibition in Paris in October 1910, being the only exhibit without a propeller, but the aircraft was not displayed afterwards, and it fell from public awareness. Coandă used a similar turbo-propulseur to drive a snow sledge, but he did not develop it further for aircraft.
The Heinkel He 178 was an experimental aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Heinkel. It was the world's first aircraft to fly using the thrust from a turbojet engine.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1910:
A hoverboard is a levitating board used for personal transportation, first described in science-fiction, and made famous by the appearance of a skateboard-like hoverboard in the film Back to the Future Part II. Many attempts have been made to invent a functioning hoverboard.
A jet pack, rocket belt, rocket pack or flight pack is a device worn as a backpack which uses jets to propel the wearer through the air. The concept has been present in science fiction for almost a century and the first working experimental devices were demonstrated in the 1960s.
Royal Air Force Elvington or more simply RAF Elvington is a former Royal Air Force station which operated from the beginning of the Second World War until 1992 located at Elvington, Yorkshire, England. It is now the location of the Yorkshire Air Museum.
An airplane or aeroplane, informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.
The British land speed record is the fastest land speed achieved by a vehicle in the United Kingdom, as opposed to one on water or in the air. It is standardised as the speed over a course of fixed length, averaged over two runs in opposite directions.
Yves Rossy is a Swiss military-trained pilot and an aviation enthusiast. He is known as the inventor of a series of experimental individual jet packs, the latest using carbon-fiber wings for flight. Often referred to as "Jetman", Rossy has sometimes tested and presented new versions of his jetpacks in high-profile events staged around the world.
Holy Trinity Academy (HTA), also referred to as the Most Holy Trinity Academy, or colloquially as Holy, is a private parochial co-educational school in Sampaloc, Manila, Philippines. The school was established in June 1947 by Rev. Fr. Bernardo Torres. The school accepted both male and female students, but in separate departments, until it became fully co-educational in 1976.
A Flyboard is a brand of hydroflighting device which supplies propulsion to drive the Flyboard into the air to perform a sport known as hydroflying.
A self-balancing scooter is a self-balancing personal transporter consisting of two motorized wheels connected to a pair of articulated pads on which the rider places their feet. The rider controls the speed by leaning forward or backward, and direction of travel by twisting the pads.
Hydroflight sports are a category of sport in which water jet propulsion is used to create sustained flight where lift and movement are controlled by a person riding on a propulsion device. Competitions for this sport started around 2012. There are many training centres throughout the world where beginners go to learn and practice skills so they can fly these devices by themselves.
The JetLev is a water-propelled jet pack powered through a floater derived from jetski technology attached through an umbilical to the backpack which contains two nozzles and two control arms, in a configuration like traditional rocket belts and gas turbine jet belts. The JetLev also functions underwater, allowing users to dive into the water and jet back out. The jetpack can allow users to fly up to 10 m above the water. It was created by Chinese Canadian, Raymond Li. JetLev became the first practical amateur-usable jet pack, and first with practical usable duration. The JetLev technology jetpack became the first commercially released jetpack in 2009. It was initially offered for sale for US$100,000, however with much cheaper competitors coming on the market afterwards, inspired by the original JetLev, such as the Flyboard, prices rapidly dropped, with cheaper models.
The Daedalus Flight Pack is a jet suit capable of flying, hovering and powered jumps. It was created by British inventor Richard Browning, an athlete and Royal Marine Reservist. The Daedalus is different from other manned portable flight packs in that it uses additional jets attached to the hands. These enable it to be directed by moving the arms.
Franky Zapata is a French personal watercraft pilot who is the inventor of the Flyboard and Flyboard Air, and founder of Zapata Racing. Since 2012, Zapata's efforts have been focused on the development and manufacture of personal flyers for land and aquatic applications.