On 19 May, 21:12, Larry Dighera wrote:
New materials and technology push the frontiers of flight ever
further. *All it takes is a sponsor with $285,000.00 to spare and a
courageous airman. *

What's next, a two-place? *:-)

*(http://www.avweb.com/eletter/archive...ll.html#197892)
* * Yves Rossy, 48, again made headlines last Wednesday, jumping from
* * an aircraft over the Alps with yet another set of prototype
* * jet-powered and unfolding wings (roughly seven and one half foot
* * in span), but this time with four jet engines and enough skill to
* * execute a full 360-degree roll. "That was to impress the girls"
* * the now-single pioneer told Australia's Herald Sun. Rossy plans to
* * cross the English Channel later this year, convinced that 10
* * minutes of fuel and a speed of 185 miles per hour will leave him
* * room to spare. ...

Watch the video:

* *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-oQ--U-WaQ
* * May 15, 2008
* * Swiss "Rocket Man" Yves Rossy becomes the first person in the
* * world to fly with wings under rocket power. This so cool!

* *http://www.jet-man.com/prod/index_en.html
* * Yves "FusionMan" Rossy flies over the Alps: The bird man makes his
* * first demonstration flight

* * Yves "FusionMan" Rossy, the first man to fly under a single
* * jet-powered wing, completed his first official demonstration
* * before the international press Wednesday May 14th at midday.
* * Released from a plane at an altitude of 8,000 feet, he completed a
* * circuit in just over 5 minutes which saw him fly over the Swiss
* * Chablais and neighboring mountains.

* * The spectacle was impressive. *Yves Rossy leapt from the plane
* * with his wing folded, then deployed his craft and began the flight
* * proper. *He made several "figure of eights" above the spectators
* * aware of being present at an exceptional event. *At the end of the
* * flight FusionMan deployed his parachute, folded the wing and
* * landed safely at Bex aerodrome in Switzerland.

* *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yves_Rossy
* * Jet-powered wings
* * Rossy was the test pilot on May 14, 2008, in a successful 6-minute
* * flight from the town of Bex near Lake Geneva. He exited a Pilatus
* * Porter at 7,500 feet with jet engines and a folded 8-foot pair of
* * airplane-type wings strapped to his back. It was the first public
* * demonstration before the world's press. He made effortless loops
* * from one side of the Rhone valley to the other and rose 2,600
* * feet. Rossy, his sponsors, and the Swiss watch company Hublot,
* * spent $285,000 to build the device. [1] [2] [3] ...

Earlier:

* * September 21, 2006
* *http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEXxkWXncuo
* * ENGLISH TRANSLATION HERE (I'm not l337 enuf to do subtitles The
* * Jet Man, Yves Rossy, a former Swiss military pilot, designed and
* * built a deployable 3-meter wing, holding kerosene fuel for 2 jet
* * engines (as of May 2008 FOUR turbines on a 2.5m wing!!) fixed to
* * the tips and attached it to his back. Rossy launched from an
* * airplane and flew for 4 minutes, traveling over 100 mph, landing
* * by parachute.http://www.jet-man.com/prod/index_en....
* * OK here's my attempt at translation (if you can, please correct!):
* * 00:16 (VIDEO START)
* * 00:20 (German) Further, further away from the car
* * 00:22 Yes
* * 00:24 (French) Towards the drain
* * 00:25 There?
* * 00:26 Yep
* * 00:33 ('SCOTLAND THE BRAVE' RINGTONE)
* * 00:48 So, the idea is, as we see here, there's the fuel, the smoke
* * cartridges, and the jet engines underneath, for horizontal flight.
* * 01:00 In fact, the Flying Jet Man, that's the idea. And to do that
* * we've developed this folding wing, taking into account the space
* * available in the plane, because we don't have much space. A wing
* * of 3 meters would not fit in the plane without being folding.
* * 01:19 It's nearly a mini-airplane, except that, well, I'm the
* * fuselage. So there's fuel, batteries, gas for starting the jet
* * engines, oil is in the kerosene for lubricating the engine. I have
* * a little handle for moving the ailerons so I can go up and down,
* * so I've got all the controls just like a plane, and like I said
* * I'm the fuselage with two jet engines up my backside!
* * 01:56 The goal - horizontal flight. That's it.
* * 03:08 (START ENGINES IN PLANE, WINGS FOLDED)
* * 03:23 (JUMP)
* * 04:27 (PARACHUTE OPENS)
* * 04:50 (LANDING, WINGS FOLDED)
* * 04:52 (excited) I had a fantastic exit from the plane, that's
* * already a good start, because the wings don't open symmetrically,
* * so I'm always a little tense that that will work well, sometimes
* * that creates a little half turn like that, but I've exited well,
* * and clunk! I was stable, so that's already a good start to the
* * flight.
* * 05:08 Physically it feels great, you're in gliding flight like
* * that, you feel that you're falling, gliding, that's already OK,
* * you're in flight, then you hit the gas, and vroom! bang! you feel
* * how that pushes, and it holds up horizontally, it's great.
* * 05:26 It's like there's a big handle in your back, and the good
* * Lord takes you by it and shoves you through the air, it's
* * fantastic!!

I prefer the low tech approach -

http://technorati.com/videos/youtube...%3D2fLOgMQon7c
http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/safe...age.cgi?ID=613

Well I wouldn't have anything to do with either activity:-)