Yves "FusionMan" Rossy Flies With $ Jet Engines, Folding Wing, and Little Else.

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!!