Sangatte (France) (AFP)

The second attempt was the good one. Franky Zapata managed Sunday the feat of crossing the Channel by air in about twenty minutes. Now place the next challenges for "flying man": finish his "flying car" and "surf in the clouds".

The 40-year-old Marseillais took off at 8:16 from the beach of Sangatte (Pas-de-Calais) in a deafening roar and under the eyes of hundreds of amazed onlookers, ten days after his failure.

Helmeted and harnessed, dressed in black, the former world champion jet-ski flew to St Margaret's Bay, on the English side, which he managed to reach 22 minutes later by flying over the sea at 15/20 m and sometimes even higher.

On the way, he spent a few moments on a boat, in French waters, to change his backpack, in which he stores the kerosene necessary to feed his gear.

The landing on this boat "was complicated, it moved still a lot, I missed the first approach and I asked the second," he told the press when he returned to France, but once on the supply platform, "I knew I had done the hard part".

He then returned to the British coast, where he landed after having traveled the 35 km of standing on his flying machine equipped with five mini-turbojet engines that allow him to take off and evolve up to 190 km / h, with a autonomy of about ten minutes.

"I saw England coming closer and I tried to take pleasure in not thinking about the pain, it burned in my legs!", He said after landing, saying he had stolen "at 160 / 170 km / h almost all along ".

Upon arrival, Franky Zapata raised his fist in victory and hugged a member of his team who congratulated him. "It's won," he said.

- Next step: "flying above the clouds" -

After his success, Franky Zapata burst into tears when his young son told him on the phone, "You're the best, daddy!"

"I think I was not far from my limit," he admitted later at his press conference in Sangatte.

Franky Zapata already has other challenges so crazy in mind: to finish the manufacture of a "flying car" but also to be "the first to surf the powder in the clouds".

"I want to fly at 2,000 meters and fly above the clouds, that's the next step!" He said.

As for the flying car, "it must come out before the end of the year", so "we will take a little vacation" then, "with the whole team, get back to it thoroughly so that it is ready in time ".

On his first attempt on July 25th, he had jumped from the same spot on his flying board but had dropped a few minutes later into English waters after hitting the platform of the supply boat where he wanted to land.

So, this time, Franky Zapata opted for a "bigger" boat, positioned in French waters.

"If you let go of the first effort, you will not get anywhere, there is no problem in failing, but you have to fail with a clear conscience, having given yourself 200%", he declared, very moved, during his press conference.

Franky Zapata and his holding of the same name have met with a media echo for this crazy bet that comes after a first large showcase during the military parade on July 14 on the Champs-Elysees.

His invention had already been exhibited at the end of 2018 at the Paris Defense Innovation Forum. This flying platform is of interest to French special forces, who see it as "potential for employment in special operations in urban areas".

Since December 2018, his company Z-AIR has benefited, under a project "RAPID", a subsidy of 1.3 million euros from the Ministry of the Armed Forces to develop a new turbine in 3D printing.

"This is not the return of Avengers, it is the reality ... Congratulations to Franky Zapata (...) Proud of the support that our Armies bring to innovation", tweeted the Minister of Armies , Florence Parly.

bur-zl-dt-erd / nm

© 2019 AFP