Franky Zapata flew with his hoverboard for almost 1,4 miles setting a new Guinness World Record for the farthest distance travelled ever. The record flight took place at the coast of Sausset-les-Pins in the South of France, with Zapata flying his own Flyboard Air jet-propelled hoverboard, flying at an average speed of 55km/h to cover the distance in three minutes.
Zapata is known for developing a series of water-propelled hoverboards with his latest, record-breaking flying device using an ‘independent propulsion unit’ which allows it to operate for up to 10 minutes.
Zapata’s Flyboard Air hoverboard took four year to develop and has a top speed of 150km/h (93mph), reaching a maximum altitude of 3000 meters (10,000 feet). Its propulsion unit can offer a maximum thrust of 160N while the weight of the device is 20kg in total. The jet turbines are burning kerosene at a rate of 5.6 litres per minute while the gas tank is strapped to the rider’s back. The whole thing is operated via a hand remote which adjusts the thrust of the engines.
Ford offered a pair of Ranger Wildtrak pickup trucks as support vehicles in his Guinness record setting. Unlike other hoverboards we saw recently, Franky Zapata’s creation is by far the most impressive take on a transport technology that’s been teased for the best part of three decades and is probably the first time a device of this type comes close to what we’ve been promised for ages now.
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