As Le Figaro reports on Friday, July 25, the Marseille engineer known for his nickname “the flying man”, will try to rally England aboard his new invention, a hybrid propulsion device located between the helicopter and the drone.
A new feat to come for Franky Zapata? As the Figaro relates, Friday, July 25, the Marseille engineer, known for his exploits on new flying inventions, will try to cross the Channel with the scooter air, a flying scooter which aims to integrate into the leisure and tourism markets.
Taken off from Sangatte (Pas-de-Calais), around 10 am, Franky Zapata will try to reach Dover and confided in our colleagues in these expectations around this feat. “I plan to cross the Channel in 25 minutes, stealing at 75 km/hour on average at 2,800 meters above sea level. This flight, demonstrating that our machine works, marks a moment of sharing with my teams that have been working there for years,” he said.
A autonomy that varies depending on the speed
Thanks to its carbon fiber structure, the scooter air, which is similar to an invention between the helicopter and the drone, weighs only 115 kilos. Speaking with a joystick, it can fly at 3,000 meters above sea level at a top speed of 100 km/hour and has a radius of action of 100 km. Depending on the speed, its autonomy oscillates between an hour and a half at 75 km/h and two hours at 45 km/h. Crossing the English Channel is the first long distance flight in scooter air. A first flight to the two -seater model is expected at the end of 2026.
Posted on July 25 at 12:35 pm, Quentin Marchal, 6medias
