![Oliver Winger Flyboarding](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/Oliver_Winger_Flyboarding.png)
A Flyboard is a brand of
hydroflighting device which supplies propulsion to drive the Flyboard into the air to perform a sport known as hydroflying.
[Examples]
Flyboard Ultimate Supercut
Power Board Expert.
A Flyboard rider stands on a board connected by a long hose to a watercraft. Water is forced under pressure to a pair of boots with jet nozzles underneath which provide thrust for the rider to fly up to in the air or to dive headlong through the water down as far as one is willing to go.
[Zapata's outrageous, US$6,600 Flyboard - Aquaman meets Iron Man](_blank)
gizmag.com. Retrieved: 13 August 2013.
History
The Flyboard was invented in Autumn 2012 by a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
water-craft rider,
Franky Zapata.
[History](_blank)
, zapata-racing.com. Retrieved: 13 August 2013. The design allows the device to climb out of the water and be stable in the air. This was achieved by the underfoot propulsion and hand stabilization.
The French
Institut national de la propriété industrielle
The National Industrial Property Institute (INPI, standing for ''Institut national de la propriété industrielle'' in French) is the national intellectual property office of France, in charge of patents, trademarks and industrial design rights. I ...
(INPI) granted Zapata a patent for his invention.
The Flyboard was the subject of a lawsuit from competitor
Jetlev which was dropped without prejudice in March 2013. The device was presented to the public for the first time at the jet ski World Championship 2012 in China.
Since its introduction in 2012 the Flyboard has sold around 2500 units.
In the 2015 season of ''
America's Got Talent
''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribut ...
'', a flyboard enthusiast named Damone Rippy performed Flyboarding as his act on the show.
In 2014 the first dual flight of a pilot with both a Jetlev Jetpack and Flyboard occurred in Sydney Australia at the Jetpack adventures facility by pilot Brad Hudson.
In 2016, Franky Zapata sold Zapata Racing (ZR) to U.S. defense contractor Implant Sciences.
File:Flyboarding in Warsaw.JPG, Acrobatics with flyboard
File:Flyboarding, Malmö.webm, Flyboarding in Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal populat ...
, Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
Related aircraft
Zapata has also invented an independently jet-powered Flyboard (
Flyboard Air), powered by five turbines and fueled by kerosene. He piloted the "jet-powered hoverboard" over crowds at the 2019
Bastille Day military celebrations in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
. On 4 August 2019, Zapata was able to successfully fly over the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
after a failed attempt on 25 July.
During this flight, using a backpack fuel reservoir, he accomplished the journey in about 20 minutes, including a fueling stop. Zapata reached a speed of and maintained an altitude of approximately .
Zapata's company, Z-AIR, had received a €1.3m grant from the French military in December 2018. However, he has said that the flyboard was not yet suitable for military use due to the noise it creates and the challenge of learning how to fly the device. In a France Inter radio interview, France's Minister of the Armed Forces
Florence Parly said the flyboard might eventually be suitable, "for example as a flying logistical platform or, indeed, as an assault platform".
In 2017, Zapata had provided the U.S. Army with demonstrations of the Flyboard Air (jet-powered hoverboard) referred to as the EZ-Fly in some news reports, which suggested the price per unit might be $250,000. A July 2019 report provided no indication of any serious interest by the American military as of that time for this new technology.
Technical information
![Agrupación de personas practicando FlyBoard](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Agrupaci%C3%B3n_de_personas_practicando_FlyBoard.jpg)
The Flyboard is a bolt-on device that is attached to a
personal water craft (PWC). It is designed so that the PWC follows behind the rider’s trail, allowing the rider multiple degrees of freedom, even allowing the rider to go underwater if they desire. The pilot on the Flyboard is secured in by bindings similar to a
wakeboard
Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboardin ...
and the rider is propelled from water jets below the device. The Flyboard is
buoyant for safety, which also allows the rider to rest in the water between rides. The use of a
personal flotation device
A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suite that is worn by a ...
and helmet is required by rental locations for safety purposes to protect against serious head trauma in the event of the rider impacting the PWC or stationary structures, and to protect the ears from damage and discomfort from impacts with the water.
Device power is controlled by a throttle on the PWC. The equipment may be used in two modes: The primary one requires two people, one to control the PWC throttle which regulates the power and height of the rider. The secondary mode relies on an accessory called an Electronic Management Kit (EMK) which allows the rider to control the PWC throttle.
Competitions
The first Flyboard World Championships took place in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
, Qatar in October 2012.
Movies
For the first time, a Flyboard stunt was done in a
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...
film by
Hrithik Roshan in the film ''
Bang Bang!''.
See also
*
Flyboard Air, a freeflight turbojet "hoverboard"
*
Hydroflight sports, sports using water stream jet packs
*
Hydrojet pack
A jet pack, rocket belt, or rocket pack is a device worn on the back which uses jets of gas or liquid to propel the wearer through the air. The concept has been present in science fiction for almost a century and became widespread in the 1960s. ...
*
JetLev, the first commercial hydroflight jetpack
*
Lindsay McQueen, a Flyboard athlete in Spain
References
{{Authority control
Jet pack
Water sports equipment
Personal water craft
Vehicles introduced in 2012
Articles containing video clips
French inventions
Hydroflight