The Jet Man does it again!

I've written about Swiss pilot Yves Rossi before in these pages. He's famous as the 'Jet Man', having built a carbon-fiber 'wing' powered by four jet engines of the type used on small radio-controlled hobby aircraft.




In 2008 he flew across the English Channel, and last year attempted to cross the Straits of Gibraltar (alas, unsuccessfully). Last week, using a redesigned wing, he attempted to loop the loop. A press release on his Web site tells the story.

Yves Rossy, a.k.a. Jetman, successfully realized today at 10:03 am (Swiss time) his first looping in front of a hot-air balloon piloted by Brian Jones above Bercher.

The Swiss Yves Rossy took off from Bercher at 9:45 am (Swiss time) this morning on board of the hot-air balloon “Esprit Breitling Orbiter” , piloted by Brian Jones, to reach an altitude of 2.400 meters in 18 minutes. His wing on his back, the 4 jet-engines turned on, he jumped out of the balloon’s basket. He flew a few minutes to stabilize his wing and find the optimal angle to begin two loopings. Jetman executed a rotation in front of the balloon. Then, he deployed his parachute to land in Denezy (VD).




This flight has been achieved with Yves Rossy’s new wing, smaller (2 meters instead of 2.5 meters) and without unfoldable parts. This new prototype, designed by Yves and the RUAG Company, possesses a better aerodynamic profile and more stability. Two years after crossing the Channel, these technological evolutions allowed Jetman to perform his first acrobatics in the air.

. . .

Yves Rossy’s words after his landing: “It was fantastic! The flight went well, despite a little problem when starting my engines. I was able to do my two loopings and I am very happy!”

There's more at the link.

Congratulations to M. Rossi on another magnificent achievement! I love people like him. They show us that the spirit of adventure and pioneering is nowhere near dead yet. Here's a video of his looping antics.

To close, here's an amusing picture of M. Rossi, wearing his wing, standing next to an Airbus A380 superjumbo passenger jet. He calls it a meeting of the world's smallest and largest jets!






Peter