The "flying soldier" fell in the Channel …

At the military parade with which took place the National Day of France on July 14, Franky Zapata dazzled the public by pbading with his flying panel across the Champs-Elysees
. Enthusiastic, he had proposed Thursday to cross the English Channel but had failed in his attempt: "Flying soldier" fell to the water at 18 kilometers from the French coast and must have been saved.

Zapata took off around 7:05 from France near the Sangatte beach, in northwestern France. He planned to cross the 35-kilometer strait and land on the English coast, in the St Margaret's Bay area.

The fall in the water occurred just when had to settle on a ship to refuel the fuel up to the engine that drives it and it lacks the necessary autonomy to walk the path between France and England. He was saved consciously.

Zapata was world champion in water skiing and invented the Flyboard, the board on which he flies. he the aircraft is powered by five turbojet engines which allow to take off and advance up to 190 km / h, with a range of about ten minutes.

The "flying soldier" is a reserve of the French army and President Emannuel Macron is one of his most enthusiastic drivers. in his plan to show himself as a modernizer of the French army. Hence his presence in the July 14 military parade, which the President celebrated on Twitter with the publication of a video of Zapata accompanied by the caption "Proud of our army, modern and innovative". In this perspective, the Minister of the Armed Forces, Florence Parly, told France Inter radio that the "Flyboard" "can be tested for different types of uses, for example as a flying logistics platform or even as a flat platform. badault form ".

For the crossing of the Channel Zapata had been preparing for six months. His intention was to specify 110 years after the Frenchman Louis Bleriot made the first flight by plane in the strait.