The French 'Green Goblin' wants to fly from France to England with his jet-powered Flyboard
Franky Zapata reckons it'll take him 20 minutes.
The French Green Goblin.
Remember Franky Zapata? He was the man flying on the hoverboard through Paris, armed with a rifle, during the Bastille Day celebrations last month.
Zapata was part of a military parade featuring the 10 European countries that make up the European Intervention Initiative. He had received a €1.3m grant from the French government defence and procurement agency in December 2018. French President Emmanuel Macron cheered him on as he showed off the potential of his turbine engine-powered hoverboard.
Fier de notre armée, moderne et innovante. pic.twitter.com/DQvIfPolQf
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) July 14, 2019
The internet, of course, quickly cottoned on to the fact that Zapata was about as close to a real life Green Goblin as we're ever going to get.
mfw I see the green goblin pic.twitter.com/pR7lSfCIpj
— illy bocean (@IllyBocean) July 14, 2019
Wow, they introduced the Green Goblin in the France Cinematic Universe pic.twitter.com/tMRexA7Q9C
— Lights, Camera, Pod (@LightsCameraPod) July 14, 2019
But Zapata is far from done. With flying through Paris ticked off the bucket list, he wants to ramp things up a notch, and fly his " 'Flyboard " across the English Channel, from France to England, as part of the 110th anniversary of the very first cross-channel flight.
He reckons it'll take him 20 minutes.
Speaking to La Parisien (as translated by The Guardian) Zapata expects to reach speeds of 86.9mph (140km/h) but will need to stop halfway to refuel.
"I used 3% of the machine's capabilities," he said, referring to the Bastille Day demonstrations, "and I'll need 99% for the Channel. It won't be easy at all and I reckon I've a 30% chance of succeeding."
Zapata claims it has been approved by civil aviation authorities. He wants to make this attempt in the coming week.
