Date:12/04/16

Franky Zapata develops his own jet-powered flying hoverboard that actually works

French jet ski champion Franky Zapata has joined the race to build the first commercially viable hoverboard, unveiling a test flight of a new jet-powered flying propeller device.

The Flyboard Air, which took four years to develop, can reach heights of up to 10,000ft and hit a top speed of 95mph – but its onboard batteries contain only enough power for a 10-minute-long flight. Very few details have been released by Zapata Racing, but the video shows Zapata pressing a joystick wired to the base in order to control the direction, height and speed of the hoverboard, which is powered by jet engine propulsion.

Zapata is already known for his Flyboard Pro jet platform, which is tethered to a jet ski and provides enough thrust to propel users up to 30ft in the air on a jet of water to perform acrobatic stunts. The firm also has a Jetpack product that lets users fly safely over water, so it is not much of a stretch for Zapata to go into hoverboards.

Interestingly, the Flyboard Air's design bears a similarity to the Omni Hoverboard invented by Canadian Catalin Alexandru Duru. The Omni broke the Guinness World Record for longest distance travelled by a hoverboard in May 2015, when it flew a distance of 905ft at a height of 16ft in the air, in just 90 seconds.

Duru's invention features eight propellers and a frame made from carbon fibre, with motors powered by 12 lithium polymer batteries, and it too is controlled by a joystick, although it can only fly for 90 seconds.

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