BEX, Switzerland — Swiss pilot Yves Rossy strapped on a jet-powered wing and leaped from a plane Wednesday for the first public demonstration of the homemade device, turning figure eights and soaring high above the Alps, capping five years of training and many more years of dreaming.
“This flight was absolutely excellent,” the former fighter pilot and extreme-sports enthusiast said after landing near Lake Geneva.
Rossy, 48, had stepped out of the Swiss-built Pilatus Porter aircraft at 7,500 feet and unfolded the rigid 8-foot wings strapped to his back before jumping. Passing from free fall to a gentle glide, Rossy then triggered four jet turbines and accelerated to 186 mph, about 65 mph faster than the typical falling skydiver. A plane that flew at some distance beside him measured his speed. The Associated Press
