Breitling Takes To The Skies With Franky Zapata On Flyboard Air

Breitling, the company that’s known for its specialty technical watches, and for sponsoring some of the greatest airshow acts around, has added another unique performer to its venture into extreme AeroSports.

Most everybody has heard of the Breitling sponsored act referred to as the “Jetman.” Yves Rossy is known as the inventor of a series of experimental individual jet packs; the latest using carbon-fiber wings for flight. Now, Breitling has taken it a step further as they have just introduced a new extreme AeroSports developed by Franky Zapata. Zapata adds a new chapter in conquering the skies and overcoming the most insane challenges.

The Breitling press release introduces us to Zapata. Born in Marseille in 1978, Franky Zapata initially dreamed of flying on water. At the age of 16, this led him to try out jet-skiing – a discipline on which he has made a strong impression as a professional test driver and with his many victories at European and world championships.

Breitling says that Zapata is driven by a pioneering spirit. In 2011, he invented the ESH Flyboard, a hydro-propulsion board connected to a jet-ski making it possible to ‘fly’ above the water. This machine wasted no time in becoming a new sport on an international level.
 
Zapata also founded his own company, Zapata Racing, which today offers various types of hydro-propulsion engines for recreational and competitive purposes – such as the Flyboard Pro Series, Hoverboard by ZR and Jetpack by ZR seat. All are machines procuring new thrills in total safety, much to the delight of millions of users all over the world.

With Flyboard Air, launched in April 2016, Franky Zapata has taken things to a new level by developing a machine capable of being airborne completely independently. The result of four years’ development, this “autonomous propulsion unit” (APU), currently in its prototype phase, is a board weighing around 45 pounds equipped with six engines which stabilize it – and which required the development of a highly sophisticated software program. Standing upright on this UFO, which is barely bigger than a large drone, the pilot drives it by means of “mass transfer”, like a Segway, joystick in hand to adjust the thrust.

Franky Zapata has already completed several very successful – and high-profile – trials with Flyboard Air and set the world record, registered in the Guinness Book of Records, for the longest distance travelled on a flying board (of the hoverboard type).

Breitling says he attaches great importance to safety, and his APU has been designed to work even in the event of engine failure. When it comes to performance, Flyboard Air, also sometimes known as a “jet board” has ambitious targets, with a top speed of about 100 miles per hour and maximum altitude of near 10,000 feet.

Breitling says their intention is once again to foster the spirit of daring and invention that has always characterized aviation since the time of the very first “magnificent men in their flying machines” – that taste for adventure, that combination of daring and discipline, which consistently drive aeronautics to push the boundaries of feasibility.

Will we be seeing this new Flyboard Air at an air show near you? We’ll have to wait and see, but we’re pretty sure you’ll be hearing a lot more about this.

(Source and Image provided in Breitling press release)

FMI: Breitling Flyboard Air