A Brief History
On September 26, 2008, Yves Rossy, a Swiss former military pilot and aviation inventor, completed an aviation first by flying a jet powered wing across the English Channel.
Digging Deeper
A fighter pilot for the Swiss Air Force and then an airliner pilot of 747 Jumbo Jets, Rossy later invented and experimented with a variety of man portable flying machines, basically jet pack type rigs and developing carbon fiber wings mounted on his own body.
Rossy’s “jet wingpack” consists of a special suit that incorporates a carbon wing of 7.9 feet and four tiny jet engines for thrust, allowing him to fly like something out of a comic book. Each Jetcat P400 jet engines weighs about nine pounds and provides nearly 100 pounds of apiece. Incredibly, his top speed using his jet wingpack is about 220 knots! Landing is via parachute.
Rossy has made memorable flights over mountains, over the Grand Canyon, and even performing aerial loops, truly an aviation pioneer.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Who is your favorite aviation pioneer?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Montandon, Mac. Jetpack Dreams: One Man’s Up and Down (But Mostly Down) Search for the Greatest Invention That Never Was. Da Capo Press, 2008.
Peitrequin, Thierry. Yves Rossy homme volant. FAVRE, 2009.
