Flyboard Air - a new word in the world of jetpacks and hoverboards

While romantics dream that once wewe can soar above the ground on the hoverboard from the movie “Back to the Future 2” or soar into the sky with the help of a jetpack, talented enthusiasts are trying to make all these dreams come true. Frenchman Frankie Zapata is well-known as a world champion in jet-skiing, as well as the inventor of a completely new extreme sport - the flyboard. Yes, it was Frankie Zapata who invented and patented these unusual “waterborne flying objects”. And now he decided to go even further and created a Falyboard Air hoverboard capable of lifting a person to an enormous height in a matter of seconds.

Surely you've seen a lot of videos where people flyabove the water surface on the board to which the hose is attached. The streams of water escaping from under the board create jet thrust, which is enough for a person to do unusual tricks in the air. This amazing thing is called Flyboard, and Zapata invented it in 2012. The Flyboard has a number of annoying restrictions. First, it is tightly tied to a jet ski, which injects water under high pressure. Secondly, it is impossible to climb higher than 15 meters. Thirdly, you can only fly above the water surface or near the water. It was this framework that pushed Frankie Zapat to create his new creation, Flyboard Air.

The new "flying board" is devoid of all connection withground No more hoses, no water, no jet skis. Only you and Flyboard Air with a powerful turbine built into its bottom. Of course, for this whole structure to work, you need fuel. It is stored on the pilot's back in a special tank. You can control the board using the same remote control that was used in the very first Flyboard model. But for flights, of course, we need a pilot with excellent physical training, a sense of balance, and in general - with a wealth of experimental flight experience, don’t understand what. In general, I just described Frankie Zapat himself.

Flyboard Air is able to raise a person to a heightup to 3000 meters, and the flight time for which there is enough fuel in the tank does not exceed 10 minutes. In this case, the vehicle can reach a speed of about 150 kilometers per hour. True, Frankie during the first field test of his brainchild decided not to risk it, so he rose only 30 meters above the surface of the water (safety first!), Developing a maximum speed of 55 km / h. In total, he spent in the air about 4 minutes. For the first time - more than a great result. You can see the test recording in the video below.

It is unlikely that the Falyboard Air will soon becomeavailable to everyone, because it is a rather dangerous way to entertain yourself. And if you are not a professional athlete with excellent physical training, you can hardly stand on this board. However, this experiment looks rather curious, and it will be very interesting to look, for example, at the Frankie Zapat competition with his Flyboard Air and David Mayman with his JB-9 jetpack.