Swiss daredevil's bid to cross the English Channel propelled by a jet-powered wing strapped to his back moved a step closer with a successful 36km test flight over Switzerland.
The flight proves that his jet-powered wing can take him far enough to make it across the channel from Calais to Dover. He hopes to make the crossing on 24 September if the weather is suitable.
"Everything went well, it was awesome," said Rossy after the flight. "It's my longest flight with this wing. If there are no technical problems, it's OK for the English Channel. I can't wait for this next challenge!"
His attempt had originally been thwarted by a collection of technical failures, including a leaking gas tank and two aborted flights during which the engines stopped within seconds of jumping from his support plane. He blamed these failures – which forced him to deploy his parachutes early – on "electronic interference problems".
The successful flight involved him jumping out of the aircraft at 2,300m, flying horizontally under jet power from a height of 1,700m and then switching off the jet engines before deploying two parachutes at 1500m and 1200m.
The wing does not include moving parts such as flaps to control direction, but Rossy is able to steer by shifting his weight and moving his head.
When he reached the ground he still had 2 litres of fuel left in his wing, suggesting that he would have some margin for error during the cross-channel flight.
Rossy is strapped to the wing with a harness around his hips.
''I use my body for steering'' he explains. ''Twist the shoulders and you turn, bend down and you descend, arch and you climb. It's like sking you go where you look.''
Rossy wears a fomula 1 fireproof suit to keep him safe from four jumbo engines that burn inches from his body. Also his helmet contains an electronic device that beeps if he falls too low. Rossy's only control is the trottle, a small black handle in his right hand.
''If I am too fast i can re-duce the trust, but i know my speed symply by felling,'' he says.
The wing is powered by four Jet-Cat p200 kerosene-burning turbine engines that are identical to those used on a Airbus or a boeing plane, only in miniature. they spin at 112,000 revolutions per minute.
The wing is foldable in order to fit inside the plane. The central part is 5.9ft long and the two foldable tips are both 1.15ft. As he exits the plane, Rossy pull two red handles that trigger gas-powered springs and extend the wings to 8.2ft in just half a second.
The fixed wing is used to give Rossy ift. It is made of duriable but light carbon fibr, while the skin is made of a sandwich of light foam and fibre-glass. The wing structure contains all the fuel and the electronics.
He flies with three parachutes- two for himself and one for his wing. In an emergency he pulls the the yello handle, which wwill detach the wing, deploy his own parachute, shut off the engines and trigger the rescue parachute for the wing.
The mission
Swiss birdman Yves Rossy is hoping to become the first man to fly across the English Channel using a single, jet propelled fixed wing. He is following the same route- calaisto Dover- as french aviator Lous Bleriot, who in 1909 was the first amn to fly across the channel in a plane.
Date: Wednesday 24th September 2008
Distance: 21 miles/ 35 kilometres
Estimated time: 12-15 minutes