"Joe 90" guy crosses English Channel in winged jet pack.

Run_to_da_hills

An experienced Airbus pilot took the chance and crossed the English Channel in a winged jet pack, something like what you would find in Joe 90 or the Thunderbirds.

I heard about this last week but honestly thought that this guy was going to be another statistic. He made it anyway fair play to him. If he had waited another year it would have been the 100th anniversary of the first cross to fly cross this channel.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7637327.stm

Davidth88

Yes I saw this too.

He was buzzing around in the Swiss alps during the summer , I saw it on the news

Fair play to him , perhaps this could be a lesson for FR, no seat !

jmayo

If it is the Swiss guy then he is a lot more than just an airbus pilot.
Didn't some French guy do a freefall in a winged suit across the Channel a few years ago?

BTW just heard Ryanair are looking at renting these winged jet suits with a view to pushing people out half way to their destination and letting them fly the rest of the way on their own. Then it is up to the customer to decide where they want to land, Beuvais has got closer to Paris type thing

Run_to_da_hills

jmayo wrote: »

If it is the Swiss guy then he is a lot more than just an airbus pilot.
Didn't some French guy do a freefall in a winged suit across the Channel a few years ago?

BTW just heard Ryanair are looking at renting these winged jet suits with a view to pushing people out half way to their destination and letting them fly the rest of the way on their own. Then it is up to the customer to decide where they want to land, Beuvais has got closer to Paris type thing

Ryanair have already hijacked the publicity


http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

Mailman

Isn't this technically more like falling gracefully a-la Buzz Lightyear than actual flight.
the engines appear to be there to get him falling in the right direction rather than for maintaining stable flight.
The wings seem to turn him in to a glider with a very poor glide ratio.

lostexpectation

he's going 100miles an hour i think its more then gracefull falling, he says he has 6.30 powered flight although it took him ten minutes to cross the channel

watch the whole thing here
http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=kXXsNhvxucs

i wonder what makes it that people can do this, now i guess its the minature jet engines and the carbon fibre tech for the wings.

what next.

jmayo

Mailman wrote: »

Isn't this technically more like falling gracefully a-la Buzz Lightyear than actual flight.
the engines appear to be there to get him falling in the right direction rather than for maintaining stable flight.
The wings seem to turn him in to a glider with a very poor glide ratio.

If as reported on other thread he jumped out of plane at 8,000 ft, then he would have landed in the drink if all he was doing was falling.
That wing and the jets do give him ability to fly. AFAIK he jumps out of aircraft, unfolds wings fully and then ignites the jets. Igniting jets in aircraft not apreciated by pilot me thinks.
Ok his glide ratio is probably not great, but neither is that of a fighter when the jets are off, actually most of them are bloody rocks and unflyable without computers.

Afterwards he pulls the power and parachutes safely to earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-66AcTo9TU

There are guys that do the wingsuit base jumps in the Alps and Norwegian Fjords. I would love to try it sometime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHlOvhlKPvs&feature=related

barnicles

I saw it like :eek:

sdanseo

jmayo wrote: »

If as reported on other thread he jumped out of plane at 8,000 ft, then he would have landed in the drink if all he was doing was falling.
That wing and the jets do give him ability to fly. AFAIK he jumps out of aircraft, unfolds wings fully and then ignites the jets. Igniting jets in aircraft not apreciated by pilot me thinks.
Ok his glide ratio is probably not great, but neither is that of a fighter when the jets are off, actually most of them are bloody rocks and unflyable without computers.

Afterwards he pulls the power and parachutes safely to earth.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-66AcTo9TU

There are guys that do the wingsuit base jumps in the Alps and Norwegian Fjords. I would love to try it sometime

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHlOvhlKPvs&feature=related

Jets are ignited in the light aircraft, surprisingly. Documentary on Sky Anytime/Discovery.

Steyr

sdonn_1 wrote: »

Jets are ignited in the light aircraft, surprisingly. Documentary on Sky Anytime/Discovery.

Same lil jet engines they use in RC C-17 Globemasters.....ahhh discovery wings, the memories!

Tenger

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Ryanair have already hijacked the publicity


http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/

Yeah spotted that. Should sue them for illegally using his image (a la screen scrapping)

barnicles

Jetman : The Whole Story
Today at 12:00 on National Geographic Channel Sky 526 UPC 215

Tenger

jmayo wrote: »

If it is the Swiss guy then he is a lot more than just an airbus pilot.

Yves Roissy is an ex-fighter pilot.

Watching it now on NatGeo+1