FusionMan: The man with jet wings

Swiss professional pilot Yves Rossy, the world’s first man to fly with fitted jet fuel powered wings strapped to his back, flies during his first official demonstration above the Swiss town of Bex on May 14, 2008. Awesome! What a great invention, amazing! Please buy me one of these for my birthday

Rossy a.k.a. RocketMan or FusionMan, always dreamt of flying freely, but it took him four years of hard work on his jet design for the dream to become reality.

To achieve his bird-like status, the 48-year-old was taken up in a light aircraft, just like a normal skydiver.

After steeping out of the plane he appeared to plummet towards earth, before his fall turned to a glide and he ignited the four small jet engines attached to the carbon wing.

Once under power and using a lever to control the fuel, he had the freedom to soar where he chose.

Enjoying the demonstration, at speeds of up to 186mph, Rossy tipped his wings, flipped onto his back then levelled out again, performing a 360-degree roll.

The man then landed safely using a parachute.

He said: “This flight was excellent. It’s like a second skin. If I turn to the left, I fly left. If I nudge to the right, I go right.”

Now Rossy is planning an even greater challenge to fly across the Channel. Hmmm now what would that be, i wonder.