Jumping Out of a Perfectly Good Airplane
Shades of the Ghost Rider . . .
Swiss ‘Fusion Man’ Flies Over the Alps With Jet-Propelled Wings
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Years ago, aviation enthusiast and inventor Yves Rossy dreamed of soaring through the sky like a bird.
In 2006 that dream took flight.
Known as Switzerland’s “Fusion Man,” Rossy in November 2006 became the first man in the world to fly with wings and four jet engines strapped to his body; on Wednesday he displayed that talent to the world.
The inaugural flight lasted six minutes in Bex, Switzerland, and included an emergency parachute programmed to automatically open if he were to black out, NBC11 reported at the time.
“The idea is to have fun, not to kill yourself,” Rossy said in the story.
In Internet videos, Rossy wears a white helmet with the words “Jet-Man” on the front, dives out of a plane, fires up his wings and propels through the atmosphere, leaving a trail of special-effects white smoke in his wake.
These days the former Swiss air force fighter pilot can be seen making figure eights over the Swiss Alps during his days off from work as an Airbus pilot for Swiss International Air Lines.
On Wednesday the 48-year-old daredevil made his first public flight with his self-made flying contraption in front of the world press after five years of training and many more years of dreaming.
“This flight was absolutely excellent,” the extreme sports enthusiast said after touching down on an airfield near the eastern shore of Lake Geneva.
