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French Inventor Flies Across English Channel on Hoverboard

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A Frenchman just turned a jet-powered hoverboard into a real-world flying machine and used it to cross the English Channel.

Franky Zapata, a 40-year-old former jet-ski racing champion, strapped on a kerosene backpack, climbed onto his Flyboard Air, and flew from Sangatte, France, to St. Margaret’s Bay near Dover, England, on Sunday morning. The flight covered 35.4 kilometers (22 miles) in 22 minutes, with Zapata hitting speeds of 177 km/h (110 mph) along the way. It was his second try at the crossing, and this time everything went right.

• Zapata departed Sangatte at 8:17 a.m. local time and landed at St. Margaret’s Bay 22 minutes later, covering 35.4 kilometers.
• The Flyboard Air is powered by five miniature jet turbines fueled by a kerosene backpack, requiring one mid-flight refueling stop on a boat in British waters.
• His first attempt on July 25, 2019 — timed to the 110th anniversary of Louis Blériot’s first airplane crossing of the Channel — ended when he clipped the refueling platform and fell into the sea.

The Flight Itself

Zapata lifted off from the French coast at 8:17 a.m. and set a course across open water toward the white cliffs of Dover. He topped out at 177 km/h during the crossing, staying low over the Channel on a device that looks more like something out of a comic book than an actual mode of transportation. Partway across, he touched down on a boat stationed in British waters to swap out his fuel supply — a stop his team says takes roughly 10 minutes — before lifting off again to finish the run into St. Margaret’s Bay.

Five jet turbines, one kerosene backpack, 177 km/h — and a single 10-minute pit stop on a boat in the middle of the Channel.

Learning From the First Attempt

This wasn’t Zapata’s first swing at the Channel. On July 25, 2019 — chosen deliberately to mark the 110th anniversary of Louis Blériot’s pioneering airplane crossing — he tried the same route and came up short, clipping the refueling platform and plunging into the sea before he could complete the run. For the redo, Zapata’s team swapped in a larger boat and a bigger landing platform specifically to give him more margin during the refueling turnaround, the exact maneuver that had ended his first attempt.

From Jet-Ski Champion to Military Interest

Zapata built his reputation as a competitive jet-ski racer before turning that background into the Flyboard Air project through his company, Zapata. The device had already made headlines weeks earlier when he flew it over the Bastille Day military parade in Paris in July 2019, a demonstration that caught the attention of the French armed forces. That parade appearance reportedly opened the door to research funding and interest from the French military, giving the Channel crossing added weight beyond just a personal stunt — it doubled as a proof-of-concept flight for a hardware program with actual government backers watching.

A Feat Built on Repetition

What separates Sunday’s crossing from a one-off viral clip is the fact that Zapata went back and fixed the exact failure point from his first try. Plenty of record-breaking stunts get one shot and a highlight reel; this one got a rebuild, a bigger boat, and a second attempt that actually landed. It’s the same instinct that drives other audacious, made-for-cameras feats to keep pushing the numbers, whether that’s flying across a body of water or chasing down some other outsized physical challenge.

Zapata still has to figure out what comes after the headline crossing — whether the Flyboard Air becomes a military tool, a surveillance platform, or the seed of an actual flying-vehicle business. But for one Sunday morning, the pitch was simple: five turbines, one kerosene backpack, and 22 minutes between Sangatte and Dover.