Sep 26, 2008 8:36 am US/Central
'RocketMan' Flies Jet-Powered Wing Across Channel
DOVER, England (CBS) ―
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A Swiss daredevil crossed the English Channel strapped to a homemade jet-propelled wing Friday, parachuting into a field near the white cliffs of Dover after a 10-minute solo flight. (File)
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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Yves "FusionMan" Rossy is seen May 14, 2008, before taking to the skies to demonstrate his invention, a jet-fuel wing.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
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Swiss professional pilot Yves Rossy is seen May 14, 2008, moments after jumping from a plane for his first official demonstration of the jet-powered wing over the Swiss Alps.
Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images
A Swiss adventurer successfully crossed the English Channel with a homemade jet-propelled wing Friday, a day after calling off his initial attempt due to bad weather.
Yves Rossy leaped from a plane at more than 8,800 feet, fire up his jets and made the 22-mile trip from Calais in France to Dover in England in about 12 minutes.
The stunt was postponed Thursday when visibility deteriorated.
"It's not so safe to fly across water if you can't see," Rossy told National Geographic Channel in a live television interview Thursday. "I don't have any instruments, and I need to be able to see the landing site."
Rossy has said the experience is like flying an airplane without the airplane, CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reported.
The trip across the Channel was meant to trace the route of French aviator Louis Bleriot, the first person to cross in an airplane 99 years ago.
Rossy touched down in a field near the white cliffs of Dover.
In his first public demonstration of the jet wing in May, Rossy turned figure eights high above the Alps, performing fluid loops from one side of the Rhone valley to the other.
The carbon composite-wing weighs about 121 pounds when loaded with fuel, and carries four kerosene-burning jet turbines to keep him aloft. The wing has no steering devices - Rossy moves his body to control its movements.
He wears a heat-resistant suit similar to that worn by firefighters and racing drivers to protect him from the heat of the turbines. The cooling effect of the wind and high altitude also prevent him from getting too hot.
Briton Ken Messenger is recognized as the first to cross the channel in a hang glider, in 1977.
Englishman David Cook was the first to do it in a powered microlight aircraft in 1978, also retracing Bleriot's route.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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