Latest news with #AirScooter
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Moment 'air scooter' bids to fly across English Channel
Franky Zapata, 46, attempted to cross the English Channel in his AirScooter as part of a bid to impress investors in the US and market it to a whole new audience across the Atlantic This is the moment an "air scooter" crashed into the water during a failed bid to cross the English Channel. A French start-up tried to make history on Friday by crossing the Channel using vertical take-off and landing craft. Franky Zapata, 46, hopped in his AirScooter in Sangatte, near Calais, in a bid to complete the 21-mile journey across the Channel toward Kent. He zoomed across the water but decided to turn back after 17 minutes. Just nine minutes later, the craft slowly nosedived into the sea as observers watched on from a nearby boat. The AirScooter team said an "electric parachute" had slowed the descent and prevented a freefall. Team members are now looking to recover the air scooter. Before the flight, Zapata said he was not "100 per cent sure" the craft would reach Dover, in Kent. He added: "We've been rehearsing the flight for months and months. "It's relatively good but it's still new. Sometimes everything goes well and sometimes not so well." Zapata had hoped a Channel crossing would be a massive opportunity to market the craft to American investors. The US currently has fewer regulations on ultralight aircraft compared to counterparts in Europe, including France and the UK. But the crash now indicates Zapata will need to examine the product to iron out any possible flaws with its design. The Times reported Zapata wants wealthy out-of-town homeowners "who want to fly to the neighbours' for a barbecue on a Sunday." He latter conceded, "they won't be able to use them over towns." The craft weighs about 115kg (253lbs) and was said to be able to fly about two hours and reach a speed of 62mph. The aircraft is estimated to cost about £149,000 and Zapata has announced he intends to open a flight centre in Las Vegas in 2028, that will give people the opportunity to try it out. Zapata crossed the Channel on a hoverboard n 2019, which cemented his reputation. He went on to be asked to fly over the Champ Elysées avenue in Paris for the Bastille Day parade about a year later.
Times
5 days ago
- Times
Daredevil's attempt to cross Channel by ‘AirScooter' ends in the sea
The Frenchman who made history when he crossed the Channel on a hoverboard failed to repeat the feat in his new vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) craft, falling into the sea on Friday afternoon. Franky Zapata, 46, was rescued after his AirScooter was hit by an engine problem in mid-Channel. He was uninjured, members of his team said. He left Sangatte, near Calais, heading for Kent with French news channels covering the flight live, but turned back after 17 minutes. Nine minutes later, his craft descended slowly into the sea. Please enable cookies and other technologies to view this content. You can update your cookies preferences any time using privacy manager. Team members said the fall had been braked by an 'electric parachute', which commentators said probably referred to an electric engine system designed to prevent freefall. Efforts were underway to recover the AirScooter. The failure was a setback to Zapata's plans to market the AirScooter as a craft so simple that almost anyone will be able to use it. Commentators in Paris said the Channel landing suggested that he needed to go back to the drawing board. Zapata said novices would be able to fly the AirScooter after a training session on a simulator and having undergone security checks. The semi-autonomous piloting system enables a controller on the ground to take over the flight at any time and return the craft to base. He hopes to market the single-seat craft in the United States, where regulations governing ultralight aircraft are less stringent than in France and the UK. His aim is to sell them for leisure operators to hire out for recreational flights, just as personal watercraft are rented out for fun on the sea. Zapata said customers might include wealthy out-of-town homeowners 'who want to fly to the neighbours' for a barbecue on a Sunday'. But, he conceded, 'they won't be able to use them over towns'. With a hybrid engine, the craft weighs only 115 kilos, ensuring its ultralight classification in the US. It is said to be able to fly for a maximum of two hours and reach a speed of up to 100kph. It will cost about $200,000 (£149,000). Zapata plans to open a flight centre in Las Vegas in 2028, giving members of the public the chance to try the AirScooter. He also plans to develop a two-seat version that could be used as an air taxi. • Cross the Channel on a hoverboard? I can barely stay upright on it Various VTOL firms are working on air taxi projects around the world, mostly with electric engines, unlike Zapata's AirScooter. In the UK, Virgin has teamed up with Joby Aviation, an American air taxi business. In practice, however, the projects are struggling to get off the ground, at least in commercial terms. Germany's Volocopter teamed up with ADP, the French airports operator, to trial its electric air taxis at the Paris Olympics but it failed to get authorisation in time. Archer Aviation, which is based in California, hopes to do better with its own air taxis at the 2028 LA Olympics. Speaking before the flight, Zapata had said the AirScooter was 'a million times easier' to fly than the Flyboard Air hoverboard that took him across the Channel in 2019. He added that he was still not '100 per cent sure' of reaching Dover. 'We've been rehearsing the flight for months and months,' he said. 'It's relatively good but it's still new. Sometimes everything goes well and sometimes not so well.' His 2019 hoverboard crossing was viewed as an act of daring that earned him widespread recognition which was underlined when he was asked to fly over the Champs Elysées during the Bastille Day parade a year later.
Euronews
5 days ago
- Business
- Euronews
Can this ‘Air Scooter' cross the English Channel safely?
Imagine riding a scooter to your friend's house for a barbecue – not on the road but in the air. A French aviation start-up wants to make that a reality with an aircraft resembling a gigantic scooter. 'Air Scooter' is an ultralight aircraft pre-programmed to fly a route. Thanks to the computers doing a lot of the heavy lifting, the pilot's input is much less important than in a traditional helicopter. "It's a kind of flying robot,' Franky Zapata, the CEO of Zapata, said. 'When you are inside, you just ask the machine to go somewhere. You feel like the pilot. But the machine only executes what the computer wants, so it's extremely easy," Zapata added. Zapata says the hybrid vertical take-off aircraft is easier to fly and cheaper to learn, compared to traditional aircraft. The company says it hopes to democratise air travel. "You need to be skilled to pilot an aeroplane. You need to be skilled to pilot a helicopter. And it's very expensive to become a pilot. The machines are expensive," Zapata said. Fly over the English Channel The French pilot and inventor will attempt to cross the English Channel between France and England in a stunt designed to serve as a proof of concept for his Air Scooter on Friday. He will take off from Calais, France, and will cross the Channel and plans to arrive at St Margaret's Bay, close to Dover, in the UK. He has told the media that there's no parachute to use during this trip in case he has to bail out in an emergency. Zapata has already made a crossing, in 2019, on another of his machines, called the Flyboard Air. The flying hoverboard successfully surfed the sky on the second attempt, a week after his first bid failed halfway through. He completed a 36-kilometre journey in 22 minutes, reaching a top speed of 202 kilometres per hour during the crossing. Zapata admits the flying hoverboard required lots of skill to operate, and the Air Scooter is a much easier vertical takeoff hybrid aircraft. 'What is very different compared to the Flyboard Air is the fact that this machine is able to be piloted by everybody. It's not something so technical or so hard, so dangerous as the Flyboard". For more on this story, watch the video in the media player above.
Local France
5 days ago
- Local France
French 'rocketman' to attempt Channel crossing by Air Scooter
The Air Scooter is Zapata's own invention - an enclosed cabin that the pilot sits in, powered by a rotor somewhere between a large drone and a small helicopter. He says he expects the round trip between Sangatte in northern France and Dover to take just over an hour, with the craft flying over the sea at an altitude of 20 metres, travelling between 70km/h and 100km/h, depending on the wind. Advertisement The plan is to make a round trip without landing in England, but a landing platform has been set up in Dover just in case. Friday's cross-Channel attempt comes after a previous record attempt by Zapata in 2019, this time using his jet-pack like Flyboard. Since the ending of his career as a jet-ski champion, the Marseille-born inventor and military reservist has become well known for creating and testing out flying devices. He featured in the Bastille Day military parade in 2019, flying above the crowd on the Flyboard.
