Yves Rossy is my new hero. What kid hasn't dreamed of being able to fly around like a mini fighter plane? Yves is a Swiss ex-military fighter pilot, who now is a commercial airline pilot for Swiss-Air. He also skydives for fun - so it was a natural progression to combine his knowledge of his various diciplines to take his game to the next level. He saw the potential for self-flight, and set out to make his vision a reality. Yves is clearly -also- a talented Industrial Designer and Mechanical Engineer. He designed, developed and built one very innovative piece of kit.
This rig has 4 micro jet engines, 2 parachutes, a flotation device (in case of an unplanned water landing), and carries enough fuel for over 20 minutes of flight time. You literally fly it through body language. Yves has a fuel guage, altimeter and throttle control - that's it. Steering is controlled by body movement. Your body IS the plane and you are flying by 'active aerodynamics'.
James Bond? Ironman? Merely movies with big special effects budgets - this is the real deal. I was in Paris last year, and watched Mr. Rossy fly over the English Channel live on TV, and it was one of the most inspired feats of human accomplishment i've seen in a long time.
Yves Rossy has actually realized what millions of kids have dreamed of... and forgot.
TR