'Jet Man' May Try Again Friday

ANN REALTIME UPDATE 09.25.08 0930 MDT: Whether we actually admit it to others or not, most everyone has a 'little voice' that tells us when something appears to be a wise move, and when it isn't. Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy -- poised to become the first man to fly across the English Channel powered by a jet-powered carbon wing -- freely admits having just such a gut instinct.

Rossy told reporters early Thursday morning that low clouds would scrap his flight plans for the day.

"The visibility is not so good that I can see," he told London's Times newspaper. "In these conditions it is too dangerous. I have only one life and I don't want to lose it. I follow my little bees in my body and say no.

"The risk is that I lose navigation, because I navigate only with my eyes and the sun," Rossy said. "If I have a problem suddenly I'm alone somewhere in the cloud. I'm not disappointed. I would be disappointed to be in the water now and (find) tomorrow it is perfect blue sky."

The crowd assembled in the early morning hours near Rossy's planned launching point in Calais, France watched as dark clouds moved in over the channel, and groaned audibly as it became clear Rossy's flight would not happen.

Rossy himself announced the news minutes before his flight was due to lift off, after his lookout across the channel in Dover, England told him "something black is coming." (And if you believe in omens, metaphorical or no... you know that's not a good sign.)

Rossy's team will determine Thursday evening whether another attempt will be made on Friday. If not, he may also try Saturday or Sunday... but after that, we'll need to wait until Rossy has additional vacation time away from his job at SWISS, the national airline of Switzerland. Rossy must be back at his pilot job on Monday.

Original Report

0001 EDT: The 'Jet Man' is preparing to blast off. Adventurer -- and on most days, mild-mannered Swiss A320 pilot -- Yves Rossy will reportedly launch Thursday morning at 0800 EDT from Calais, France in an attempt to fly across the English Channel, strapped to a jet-propelled wing on his back.

The National Geographic Channel (NGC) tells ANN Rossy will fire up his homemade jet wing, jump from a plane and attempt to cross the 23-mile channel in 12 minutes, and land in Dover, UK.

Rossy -- who refers to himself to as "Fusion Man," because he represents a true fusion between pilot and plane -- will jump from a plane almost 2 miles above the ground and soar at speeds reaching approximately 120 mph using a specialized wing weighing about 120 pounds, including four kerosene-burning jet turbines.

Created from a lightweight carbon composite, the wing has no steering devices; Rossy uses his head and back to control his movements. It also affords little protection for Rossy if things don't go exactly right... as a water landing isn't really an option.

"He will be wearing a fire-proof flight suit, 120 pounds of wings, fuel, engines, and parachutes, so staying afloat for any length of time could be difficult," Tom Benson, an aeronautical engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH told National Geographic News.

"The first five seconds will probably define whether he is going to make it or not," added engineer Markus Zipperer, who works with the German company, JetCat, that helped build the jet-powered mono-wing. "The biggest challenge for him is to get into a stable flying configuration once he has left the plane."

If all goes well -- an admittedly big "if" -- Rossy will take a route mirroring that of French pioneer Louis Bleriot, who dared to be the first to cross the English Channel in an airplane 99 years ago.

"I have enormous admiration for the pioneers of aviation," says Rossy. "There is great beauty in the exploits of Bleriot and Lindbergh, for example. They risked their lives to discover the path not taken, to go where no one has gone before."

FMI: www.natgeotv.com/jetman