Franky Zapata’s ‘Flyboard’ Flight Across English Channel Fails

LONDON — Last week, the world learned that Franky Zapata could fly, thanks to a dazzling Bastille Day performance on his hoverboard in Paris. On Thursday, as he tried to cross the English Channel, the world learned that he can also swim.

Mr. Zapata’s highly anticipated attempt to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered hoverboard ended in failure, when the device and its rider plunged into the water 15 minutes after takeoff from Sangatte, in northern France.

Mr. Zapata, the French inventor of the aircraft that he calls a Flyboard Air, was uninjured but disappointed, according to his team.

He missed a landing platform mounted on a boat midway through the journey, about 11 miles from his destination, where he intended to refuel, according to Stéphane Denis, a member of his technical team who spoke with French news outlet BFMTV.

Mr. Zapata said that the early portion of the flight was “extraordinary,” telling Agence France-Presse that “everything that we had rehearsed went perfectly well” until he tried to land on the platform, which presented a moving target because of the waves.

“We should have done a takeoff and landing test, but we were not allowed,” Mr. Zapata told the news agency.

The attempted channel crossing was Mr. Zapata’s first try, but he said it would not be his last, and another effort could come soon once he and his team review what went wrong. “I will certainly go back,” he told Agence France-Presse.

He added: “Every time, we take it to the next level — that’s what makes it so beautiful. It was really extremely difficult, so we’ll be all the happier when we succeed.”

Earlier in the day, large crowds had gathered on the beach in Sangatte, sharing photos and videos on social media of Mr. Zapata as he set off to roaring applause.

The device, which is powered by five small jets, can fly at up to 87 miles per hour at an altitude of 50 to 65 feet. His destination on Thursday was Dover, England, which he had hoped to reach in as little as 20 minutes.

The timing of Mr. Zapata’s flight was not accidental. The history of cross-channel flights began on the same day, 110 years ago, when Louis Blériot became the first man to fly between continental Europe and the British Isles. He crossed from Calais, France, to Dover, England, in a plane he had built.

“England is no longer an island!” the New York Herald wrote the next day in celebration of the achievement. The Channel Tunnel, the first rail link connecting the two countries, opened in 1994.

Mr. Zapata had told reporters before setting off that he was confident about Thursday’s challenge. “I feel good,” he said after a training session on Wednesday. “I always feel a little bit anxious, because there are always things that can go wrong technically.”

He noted that the journey was far from being the riskiest flight he had taken, pointing to training sessions in the mountains of Arizona, where he encountered turbulent winds of over 62 miles per hour.

Mr. Zapata launched a water-propelled version of his aircraft in 2012. But when he fitted it with small jet engines, the French aviation authorities initially refused to issue the paperwork for him to fly. He continued flying, despite the ban, and was arrested in 2017 and warned to stop.

Abroad, he enjoyed a warmer welcome. Another version of the Flyboard, which used water to power its takeoff, was featured in a Bollywood movie in 2014, and a contestant on the televised competition America’s Got Talent showed off his Flyboard skills in 2015.

But Mr. Zapata’s fortunes changed when the French Army grew interested in his invention. The Ministry of Armies last year pledged 1.3 million euros, or nearly $1.5 million, to his company, Zapata Industries, to develop the device. The civil aviation authority also gave him a license to test his Flyboard at a private airfield in the south of France.

Flying was a childhood dream for Mr. Zapata, but colorblindness prevented him from training as a helicopter pilot as he had intended.

“I created my own way to fly,” he told reporters.