Man Attempts To Cross English Channel With Jet Wing

Back in May, we told you about Swiss pilot Yves Rossy and his personal jet powered wing. It seems Mr. Rossy will now try to cross the English Channel with his invention. The flight was planned for Sept. 25 but had to be canceled due to poor weather. Yves will leap from a plane more than 2,500 meters off the ground, fire up his jets and try to make the 35-kilometer flight from Calais in France to Dover in England. If all goes well, the flight will take about 12 minutes. I'd like to officially ask Mr. Rossy for a review model for Slashdot.

Buzz Lightyear

[snspdaarf]

And if it doesn't go well? Plummeting with style does not help when you go head first into the drink, or the cliffs, at high velocity. I'd like to see him make it, just because everyone's first reaction seems to be, "He's out of his fucking mind", but I would not trade places with him for love, nor money.

Re:Talk about a...

[Cousin Scuzzy]

He uses a parachute to land the thing every time he flies it. So yes, he'll have enough altitude for that.

Re:Buzz Lightyear

[Yvanhoe]

People who tagged this "Darwin" are probably not aware that this guy isn't just your regular redneck who strapped rocket engines to a backpack but someone who actually used and tested this suit. It works, just go watch his previous videos. I think that there will be no problem with this flight.

Re:Buzz Lightyear

[Shotgun]

Not only that, but he's launching at 2,500m. Typical GA airplanes have a glide ratio of around 10 to 1. Some much more, some much less, but 10 is a decent first guess if you don't know.

Launching from from 2,500m would give him a glide to 25km, without the engines. The engines only have to get him another 10km. Launching from 2,500m with 90kts of forward velocity is not the same as launching from a standstill on the ground.

What he's doing is more like "falling, with style."