Afternoon:
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There's a man-bird over the white cliffs of Dover
Robert Mendick, Evening Standard26.09.08
On a wing - and possibly a prayer - a Swiss adventurer flew into the record books today with a jet-propelled crossing of the Channel.
Yves Rossy, resembling a real-life Buzz Lightyear, took 13 minutes to make the 22-mile journey from Calais to Dover attached only to a fixed wing.
After travelling at 124mph, Rossy, 49, landed safely in a field above the white cliffs of Dover at 1.15pm. He had previously never flown for longer than 10 minutes on his home-made wing.
Rossy, who prefers the title Fusion Man to Buzz Lightyear or even Superman, jumped from a plane at 8,200 feet above Calais, fired up his jet engines and soared across the Channel in clear blue skies.
In doing so, he flew over container vessels and passenger ferries in the world's busiest shipping lane and also avoided smashing into the cliffs at Dover.
His parachute landing at Dover also worked like Swiss clockwork, although onlookers feared at one stage he would not reach the cliffs and land in the sea. A rescue helicopter was on standby.
It was third time lucky for Rossy, a civilian pilot, who had had to cancel the record attempt twice because of bad weather.
After landing he said: "It was perfect. Blue sky, sunny, no clouds, perfect conditions."
He said he felt "great, really great", and added: "Thank you, to all the people who did it with me."
Rossy was already in the record books as the first person to build and the first to successfully fly a jet engine-powered wing strapped to the back.
Rossy's feat is 99 years after Louis Blériot became the first person to fly the Channel. Rossy followed his route today.
In near perfect conditions, he jumped out of the light aircraft at 1pm, turned 90 degrees towards the Channel, opened out his wing to its full eight-foot span and began his historic flight.
He followed the light aircraft as he headed for Dover with no navigational instruments.
As he approached land, Rossy activated his blue and yellow parachute and descended smoothly for a perfect landing.
Hundreds of spectators rushed to greet him, trying to take photographs with cameras and mobile phones.
Geoff Clark, a 54-year-old onlooker from Chatham, said: "It's a remarkable achievement, we saw the climax of his attempt as he came down to earth."
Rossy, a former Swiss military pilot who now mostly flies Airbuses, spent the past few months fine-tuning his design, carrying out several test flights in wind tunnels and over the Swiss Alps.
The wing weighs about 121lb with fuel and includes four kerosene-burning jet turbines to keep him in the air.
Created from a lightweight carbon composite, it has no steering devices.
Rossy changes direction and altitude by moving his head and back to control the wing's movement.
He wore a special flame-proof suit and helmet to protect him from the jet turbines mounted just centimetres from him on the wing.
Rossy needed a police escort from the field where he landed as he was mobbed by journalists and camera crews. A plane roared overhead welcoming him to England.
On Monday Rossy will be back at work piloting a flight to Egypt with Swiss International.
Reader views (2)
A manbird? Is that like a grown-up ladyboy?
- Patrick, singapore
I suggest we strap one of these wings to Gordon Brown, fill it up with enough fuel for a Channel crossing, and route him over the Atlantic for a low cost, low carbon footprint crossing to his next non-meeting with the US Treasury Secretary. Whether he makes it or not, nobody there will notice and nobody here will care.
- Justin, London, UK
