Franky Zapata

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Franky Zapata (born September 27, 1978 in Marseille ) is a French professional jet ski pilot. He is the inventor of the flyboard , the flyboard Air and its military version EZ Fly .

biography

Zapata learned to ride a jet ski in 1996 at the age of 17. He trained as a mechanic . He took part in competitions and founded the PWC competition team Zapata Racing 1998 with his father Claude Zapata (PWC = personal watercraft = jet ski). He designed shells, steering, arm and saddle VNM (VNM = véhicule nautique à moteur = jet ski) and tuned machines for jet ski races. With 6 European championships and 2 world championship titles F1 RUN World Champion , a lot of experience in the VNM world and expertise in hydraulic drives, the Zapata Racing Team became the official brand of PWC products in 2008.

He started developing the flyboard powered by the recoil of a water jet to achieve the perfect fusion between wakeboard, surf, kitesurf and jet ski freestyle. After several prototypes, he finally succeeded in 2011 in stabilizing the flyboard in the air using an underfoot drive and hand stabilization. After the invention was patented at the French Institute national de la propriété industrial , he presented the flyboard for the first time during the World Cup in China. The first flights were recorded and published on YouTube. Zapata Racing sold more than 1,500 flyboards worldwide in six months. Flyboard became a sport in its own right.

This was followed by the development and marketing of other hydro-powered machines: Hoverboard from ZR (= Zapata Racing ), Jetpack from ZR.

In April 2016, Zapata presented the Flyboard Air - a flight surfboard powered by four micro-turbines and equipped with stabilizers, which should enable pilots to fly for about ten minutes at around 140 km / h.

An incident occurred in March 2017 when Zapata was flying with Flyboard Air not far from Marseille Airport and Airbus Helicopters in Marignane . This led to disputes with the local flight authority, as the automatically flying Flyboard Air is considered an aircraft and is therefore subject to very strict regulations for overflighting the airspace. Zapata had unintentionally misjudged these circumstances and there was an official threat of a flight ban and thus a risk to the further development of its projects. By contacting the relevant authorities and the military, a solution was found that allowed the development to continue. According to the company, further development is planned in the areas of leisure, entertainment, military, medicine and industry.

On July 14, 2019, he himself flew the Flyboard-Air flight board during the French National Day parade in Paris. On July 25, 2019, he tried to cross the English Channel by Flyboard Air, but fell into the water while attempting a stopover that was planned for refueling. He was rescued by rescue workers who accompanied him. 10 days later, on the morning of August 4, 2019, he managed to cross the English Channel by Flyboard Air for the first time - northwards within 22 minutes about 35 km from Sangatte in France to St. Margaret's Bay in England at a speed of 160 to 170 km / H.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Magdalena Petrova: Finally, someone has designed a real flying hoverboard - and it flies at 80mph. October 28, 2017, accessed August 5, 2019 .
  2. ^ A b c »Franky Zapata: L'homme volant Journal gratuit d'information et des événements de la côte bleue. Retrieved July 20, 2019 .
  3. ↑ 2005 IJSBA Race Results. International Jet Sports Boating Association, 2005, p. 16 , accessed July 31, 2019 .
  4. ↑ Official trailer of the flyboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLep21zewQg
  5. ↑ Outliermagazine.co, Franky Zapata, CEO of ZAPATA RACING, interview by Kelsey Parrish, May 23, 2013 http://outliermagazine.co/zapata-racing-franky-zapata/
  6. ↑ Le Flyboard Air ou l'art de se déplacer en volant https://www.francetvinfo.fr/sciences/high-tech/le-flyboard-air-ou-l-art-de-se-deplacer-en-volant_1434075 .html
  7. ↑ Flyboard: The water jet pack, flying and swimming. Always exciting. Accessed July 31, 2019 (German).
  8. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNKRxsNyOho
  9. ↑ https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/bouches-du-rhone/metropole-aix-marseille/marseille/exclusivite-franky-zapata-homme-volant-nous-accordes -interview-975694.html
  10. ↑ https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/bouches-du-rhone/inventeur-du-flyboard-air-menace-interdiction-vol-1212433.html
  11. ↑ https://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/provence-alpes-cote-d-azur/bouches-du-rhone/bouches-du-rhone-flyboard-air-point-pouvoir-voler-nouveau-france-1316491 .html
  12. ↑ Franky Zapata's profile on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/franky-zapata/
  13. ↑ Flyboard at the military parade: floating made easy . In: Spiegel Online . July 15, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 31, 2019]).
  14. ↑ Failed crossing: "Fliegender Mann" falls into the English Channel . In: Spiegel Online . July 25, 2019 ( spiegel.de [accessed July 25, 2019]).
  15. ↑ WORLD: Extreme sportsman Franky Zapata: "Flying man" manages to cross the English Channel . August 4, 2019 ( welt.de [accessed August 4, 2019]).
  16. ↑ "Fliegender Mann" manages to cross the English Channel orf.at, August 4, 2019, accessed August 4, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Zapata, Franky
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French jet ski pilot and inventor
DATE OF BIRTH September 27, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Marseille