Not impressed.
He didn't take off, or land, under the (self contained) power of his 'aircraft'.
More Gitwizardry!
Renowned Swiss birdman Yves Rossy has, after several weather-related setbacks, finally flown over the English Channel using his unique backpack jetplane. Leaping from a plane 8,000 feet above Calais, Rossy extended his wings, fired up his four mini jet engines and zoomed across the Channel in less than ten minutes, following …
Wake me up when someone tries to do this with the aid of a giant cannon.
Seriously though, if you start thinking about it, it does take balls to do something like that, you can't just apply the brakes and get off if it gets too scary.
If I tried it, I would only get so far until I generated enough Poo ballast to make me too heavy to fly and plummet into the water.
So he hitches a lift to 8000 feet or 1.5 miles altitude, then merely preserves a glide ratio of better than 1.5 / 23 = 15.3::1 (slightly worse than a 747) and claims a success.
There's a fine line between daring and stupidity - the only real difference is if you live to talk about it afterwards
> > "I only have one word, thank you, to all the people who did it with me."
> So who's the stupid knob-end at the BBC who decided to write "thankyou" as two words?
Probably a literate one who KNOWS that "Thank You" is (are?) two words!
But if his native language is French, then "Merci" is just one word. N'est ce pas?
Damn, can't even copy and paste properly.
I'd agree with the beeb.
http://www.future-perfect.co.uk/grammartips/grammar-tip-thank-you-thankyou.asp
As a verb: Thank you, eg. "Thank you for coming today"
As a noun: Thankyou, eg. "He gave a great big thankyou"
As an adjective: Thankyou, eg. "He gave a thankyou card"
In fact my Firefox spell check (Real English) doesn't even like thankyou.
Mine's the one with the Shortcut Keys crib list in it
I disagree. He is the man I very much DO want flying the plane I'm in.
Most of the time it really won't matter, but when the engines are falling off and the landing gear won't come down, he'll be the one with the sheer determination to do whatever it takes to get the plane down in one piece.
I sat through the full 90mins of this programme on NatGeo and the tw*t didnt die. The only reason worth watching it was to see him crash and burn.
I will be moderatley impressed when someone flies an unpowered handglider over the channel, til then its utter bollox.
/paris cos shes supersonic.
If you actually *watch* the video you can see that when he jumps out of the plane, he goes straight down for a couple of thousand feet while the wings are extending and the jets fire up. He is probably more like 5-6,000 feet when he heads off - and is still pretty high when he cuts the engines and pops the chute. I'd say the glide path was more like 3,000 feet in 23 miles, or more like 45:1, which is quite respectable, particularly when you look at the wingspan. He is certainly not just gliding - looked like straight and level flight to me.
I know things are getting desperate for the UK now. Just imagine your life being ruined enough to make it worth trying to leave the country by strapping a bomb to your back!
Booby prize - a night out with Paris. Total losers prize - two nights out with Paris.
Did he remove his shoes, and buy all his drinks on the inside of the security barrier, and prove to a goon with overdeveloped muscles and underdeveloped brain, that "no, I do not intend to hijack this plane"?
Wanna bet this will be introduced as a means to keep the population docile, as soon as they find a way?
But, when all that is behind us, I applaud the daring swissman. It took some courage flying a wing he knew (from the windtunnel test) had a neasty tendency of stalling out, and sending him into a flat spin, as he did. He has my respect for his bravery.
//Svein
Baz: "So who's the stupid knob-end at the BBC who decided to write "thankyou" as two words?"
Someone who knows that "thank you" is two words in English. The writer at the BBC is not stupid, a "knob-end" or ignorant of the English language. The Swiss gentleman may be excused this error as it is not his first language.
All that aside, I think this is a great achievement.
And I love the line that goes "I'm not afraid of risk. I manage risk."
Why jump out and use this gizmo to fly the rest of the way when he was ALREADY in a plane capable of flying him there? Just showing off, that's all that is... What do you mean 'I'm just jealous 'cos I don't have one'? I'm not jealous. I'll show you jealous. *grumble grumble...*
After a rather exciting trip from up to down, I wonder if he will celebrate as usual, or whether it will be a single glass of Carver in the back of Land Rover 4x8 plus a polo?
After all that, one wonders if he will ever be able to lead anything approaching a normal life. He may not yet fully realise what he has done. Thrill seakers do not always realise the danger they are in. Stupidity can be a saving grace which can come too late.