August 4 French hoverboard inventor successfully flies over English Channel for first time

[Alien Lotus]

AP
By THOMAS ADAMSON and JASON PARKINSON
Sunday, August 4, 2019
ST. MARGARET'S BAY, England -- Is it a bird? A plane? No, it's a French inventor flying over the English Channel on his hoverboard.

Looking like a superhero, Franky Zapata successfully completed the famed 35-kilometer (22-mile) journey in just 22 minutes Sunday morning, reaching speeds of up to 177 kilometers per hour (110 mph) on the flyboard that has made him a French household name. (Video & Full Article

If he markets this in a year or so he'll make a fortune. Really cool invention.

 

[devin553344]

Yeah I saw that news. Quite an advancement in drone-like tech.

 

[~Zao~]

Frank Zappa strikes again! Yeah!

 

[Alien Lotus]

Frank Zappa strikes again! Yeah!

Zapata, not Zappa.

 

[com7fy8]

If he markets this in a year or so

He says gusts were a major challenge. If I understand him right > if he adjusts by leaning into a gust and it suddenly stops, he could go out of control because he's leaning too much and there's no longer a gust to support him. Plus, his legs were in pain, with the strain. And he needed to refuel on the way, with the risk of crashing into the refueling boat.

So, not just anyone can use one of these. Plus, ones flying might need to refuel; so they would need to arrange to have a boat or a flying refueling station. They can't just hop and bop around any old way. In order to handle balance and gusts and refueling, I suppose ones could develop a computerized automatic pilot.

 

[Wookiee]

 

[Alien Lotus]

He says gusts were a major challenge. If I understand him right > if he adjusts by leaning into a gust and it suddenly stops, he could go out of control because he's leaning too much and there's no longer a gust to support him. Plus, his legs were in pain, with the strain. And he needed to refuel on the way, with the risk of crashing into the refueling boat.

So, not just anyone can use one of these. Plus, ones flying might need to refuel; so they would need to arrange to have a boat or a flying refueling station. They can't just hop and bop around any old way. In order to handle balance and gusts and refueling, I suppose ones could develop a computerized automatic pilot.

I would guess since he invented this that he'll configure something better now that this test model has succeeded across the channel.
It is a wait and see.

 

[com7fy8]

It doesn't sound like a family thing to do.

He could run out of fuel before he crosses the channel; so someone more cautious can't go too slow and just burn it off, because the craft might not make it to a refueling boat or whatever. But it seems they have tried using a flying refueling craft. And if I remember correctly, three helicopters were with him. Well, I guess they weren't all necessary, if one or two were for press.

You could have a bungie cord reaching up to an escort helicopter, I suppose.

I can see how some number of regulatory and emergency people and craft would need to be operational, if even ten or twenty people were using a thing like this > out in open water - - can go over a hundred miles an hour > thinking of it is enough drama, for me