A Flyboard is a brand of hydroflighting device which supplies propulsion to drive the Flyboard into the air to perform a sport known as hydroflying.Examples
Flyboard Ultimate Supercut
Power Board Expert. A Flyboard rider stands on a board connected by a long hose to a watercraft. Water is forced under pressure to a pair of boots with jet nozzles underneath which provide thrust for the rider to fly up to in the air or to dive headlong through the water down as far as one is willing to go.Zapata's outrageous, US$6,600 Flyboard - Aquaman meets Iron Man
gizmag.com. Retrieved: 13 August 2013.

History

The Flyboard was invented in Autumn 2012 by a French water-craft rider,

Franky Zapata Franky Zapata (; born 27 September 1978) is a French personal watercraft pilot who is the inventor of the Flyboard and Flyboard Air, and founder of Zapata Racing. Since 2012, Zapata's efforts have been focused on the development and manufactur ...

.History
, zapata-racing.com. Retrieved: 13 August 2013. The design allows the device to climb out of the water and be stable in the air. This was achieved by the underfoot propulsion and hand stabilization. The French Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI) granted Zapata a patent for his invention. The Flyboard was the subject of a lawsuit from competitor Jetlev which was dropped without prejudice in March 2013. The device was presented to the public for the first time at the jet ski World Championship 2012 in China. Since its introduction in 2012 the Flyboard has sold around 2500 units. In the 2015 season of ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is an American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distributed by) and ...

'', a flyboard enthusiast named Damone Rippy performed Flyboarding as his act on the show. In 2014 the first dual flight of a pilot with both a Jetlev Jetpack and Flyboard occurred in Sydney Australia at the Jetpack adventures facility by pilot Brad Hudson. In 2016, Franky Zapata sold Zapata Racing (ZR) to U.S. defense contractor Implant Sciences. File:Flyboarding in Warsaw.JPG, Acrobatics with flyboard File:Flyboarding, Malmö.webm, Flyboarding in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Related aircraft

Zapata has also invented an independently jet-powered Flyboard (

Flyboard Air Flyboard Air is a type of jetpack/ hoverboard powered by gas turbines. It was invented by French water-craft rider Franky Zapata, founder of Zapata racing. It achieved a Guinness World Record for farthest flight by hoverboard in April 2016 of ...

), powered by five turbines and fueled by kerosene. He piloted the "jet-powered hoverboard" over crowds at the 2019 Bastille Day military celebrations in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. On 4 August 2019, Zapata was able to successfully fly over the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

after a failed attempt on 25 July. During this flight, using a backpack fuel reservoir, he accomplished the journey in about 20 minutes, including a fueling stop. Zapata reached a speed of and maintained an altitude of approximately . Zapata's company, Z-AIR, had received a €1.3m grant from the French military in December 2018. However, he has said that the flyboard was not yet suitable for military use due to the noise it creates and the challenge of learning how to fly the device. In a France Inter radio interview, France's Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly said the flyboard might eventually be suitable, "for example as a flying logistical platform or, indeed, as an assault platform". In 2017, Zapata had provided the U.S. Army with demonstrations of the Flyboard Air (jet-powered hoverboard) referred to as the EZ-Fly in some news reports, which suggested the price per unit might be $250,000. A July 2019 report provided no indication of any serious interest by the American military as of that time for this new technology.

Technical information

The Flyboard is a bolt-on device that is attached to a

personal water craft A personal watercraft (PWC), also called Jet Ski or water scooter, is a primarily recreational watercraft that is designed to hold only a small number of occupants, who sit or stand on top of the craft, not within the craft as in a boat. P ...

(PWC). It is designed so that the PWC follows behind the rider’s trail, allowing the rider multiple degrees of freedom, even allowing the rider to go underwater if they desire. The pilot on the Flyboard is secured in by bindings similar to a

wakeboard Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding ...

and the rider is propelled from water jets below the device. The Flyboard is buoyant for safety, which also allows the rider to rest in the water between rides. The use of a

personal flotation device A personal flotation device (PFD; also referred to as a life jacket, life preserver, life belt, Mae West, life vest, life saver, cork jacket, buoyancy aid or flotation suit) is a flotation device in the form of a vest or suit that is worn by a u ...

and helmet is required by rental locations for safety purposes to protect against serious head trauma in the event of the rider impacting the PWC or stationary structures, and to protect the ears from damage and discomfort from impacts with the water. Device power is controlled by a throttle on the PWC. The equipment may be used in two modes: The primary one requires two people, one to control the PWC throttle which regulates the power and height of the rider. The secondary mode relies on an accessory called an Electronic Management Kit (EMK) which allows the rider to control the PWC throttle.

Movies

For the first time, a Flyboard stunt was done in a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

film by

Hrithik Roshan Hrithik Roshan (; born 10 January 1974) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi cinema. He has portrayed a variety of characters and is known for his dancing skills. One of the highest-paid actors in India, he has won many awards, including si ...

in the film '' Bang Bang!''.

References

{{Authority control Jet pack Water sports equipment Personal watercraft Vehicles introduced in 2012 Articles containing video clips French inventions Hydroflight

History

Related aircraft

Technical information

Movies

See also

References