Ever since the days of Icarus, man has dreamed of flying like a bird. And despite amazing advances in the last hundred years or so, sitting like a battery hen on a Ryanair flight doesn’t really cut it.
The latest daredevil to try and take mankind one step closer to the birds is Swiss aeronaut Yves Rossy: aka ‘Jetman’. And he’s streaming his efforts live on the Internet.
Rossy’s aim is to trace the route of French aviator Louis Blériot, who dared to be the first to cross the English Channel in an airplane 99 years ago.
Not content with fulfilling every child’s (and perpetual child’s) dream, Rossy is turning his flight into a truly interactive experience. Not only will it be streamed live on the National Geographic website, but you can digg Jetman, look him up on Facebook, watch videos of his preparation and even play the Jetman game.
According to his website, ‘Rossy must overcome significant challenges along the way. He has never flown for longer than 8 minutes [and crossing the channel will take at least 15!]… even the addition of cameras mounted on the wing to record his flight may affect how long he is able to stay in the air.’
As more of an armchair adventurer, it all sounds pretty mental to me. But hey, kids need heroes. And in the immortal words of Lance Murdoch, Bart Simpson’s stuntman idol, “Bones heal, chicks dig scars, and the United States of America has the best doctor-to-daredevil ratio in the world.”
I wonder how many empty washing up bottles and loo rolls I need to make my own jetpack?
The flight will be streamed live on the National Geographic website on or around the 25th September 2008. To register for an alert to watch the flight live, and for all kinds of Jetman-related fun, visit http://jetmanlive.com
Tom Hurrell is feeling rocket fuelled.
Was anybody out there alive in the ’50s, when TV ended for the night (as below)?
Or as he said in “War of the Worlds” (radio version): “Is anybody out there … anybody?”
cheers
Kathy Horak
High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds – and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
– John Gillespie Magee, Jr.