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back to article Strap-on thruster daredevil shows off Swiss peak formation

A man strapped to small jet pack has flown over the Alps - again. It's the second time that Yves Rossy, known as the Jet Man, has propelled himself over the famous mountain range with a four-engine rig bolted onto a 6ft 6in wing. This time round he flew in formation with two Albatross aircraft and managed a soft landing with a …

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  1. A.A.Hamilton
    Coat

    Confused by the 'and'....

    "since 2008, when he first took on the Alps and flew across the English Channel"

    - that's a hell of a range for a backpack.

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  2. LuMan
    Thumb Up

    Cool

    Gotta give this bloke his due - flying alongside a couple of jet 'planes with a strap-on* wing has got to be fun. I'm both impressed and envious in equal measure.

    WRT ground launches - it's only got to be a matter of time before he cobbles something together. Some sort of rocket booster to get him up to speed (and altitude, probably) before opening up the turbines should do. Perhaps us commentards should design him something (like the PARIS and LOHAN projects).

    Big thumbs up from me.

    *heh-heh-fnaar-fnaar, etc....

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    1. Adrian Jones
      Reply Icon

      There's another problem with taking off from the ground...

      We "saw" him at Jersey last year.

      I say "saw" because he was so high up, all we could see was a tiny dot, with a pale grey trail behind it, until he ran out of fuel and opened the parachute.

      He had to fly so high because of the time it takes to open a parachute large enough to support the extra weight of the wing. Flying at a lower altitude, and taking off of course, would put him in the situation where he could recover from an engine failure.

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      1. Esskay
        Reply Icon
        Thumb Up

        ahem

        "He had to fly so high because of the time it takes to open a parachute large enough to support the extra weight of his massive cojones"

        -fixed.

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  3. Nick Ryan Silver badge

    Lunatic

    A lunatic... but balls of steel to do something like this. Repeatedly.

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    1. TRT Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Nah...

      Titanium because of the higher melting point.

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  4. Andy E
    Happy

    Falling - with style?

    As he can't take off but has to be dropped, isn't that just falling with style?

    (as Woody said about Buzz Lightyear)

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  5. Captain TickTock
    Thumb Up

    Full marks

    for use of "Strap-on" in a headline

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  6. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Barking

    ... absolutely barking mad.

    But what a set of cohones he's got!! Hat of to him. And I will never say the Swiss are boring ever again.

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  7. Juan Inamillion
    Pint

    There's a lot of it about

    Now there's at least two people in the world with massive cohones.

    Not really a comparison other than a form of flight that could otherwise be called 'falling with style', as mentioned earlier:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k

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  8. Sirius Lee

    Expensive to do

    You'd think he'd get a sponsor.

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    1. Chemist
      Reply Icon

      "You'd think he'd get a sponsor."

      "Watch" that space

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