Swiss man soars above Alps with jet-powered wing

Associated Press Writer ^ | may 15 2008 | By FRANK JORDANS

[Redcitizen]

BEX, Switzerland - A Swiss pilot 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.

[Redcitizen]

5 years of training and 285k dollars.

He did it to impress the girls.

[Baynative]

He impressed more than girls.

[Travis McGee]

Pretty damn cool if you ask me.

[Drango]

He had a burrito for lunch...

[the invisib1e hand]

search-is-everybody’s-friend.

[unkus]

Can he re-fuel in flight?

[ryan71]

SEALs are gonna love this little toy.

[Rudder]

Now that would require one hellluva of a tight jock strap.

[Baynative]

WOW! ...never thought of that one.

[Baynative]

[farlander]

Where can I get one ?

[Redcitizen]

I thought it was great! Life imitates art.

[Redcitizen]

I used search but any previous postings didn’t pop up.

[Arthur McGowan]

Darwin Award Nominee.

[SoCalPol]

When I was several thousand feet up on the Stanserhorn in Switzerland there were hang gliders going off the top some years back.

[Man50D]

That’s quite a feat but I can’t wonder if this guy has an Icarus complex. ;O)

[Redcitizen]

Hey ya’ll watch this! (still an impressive feat to fly a jet wing)

[Redcitizen]

Scuse me while I kiss the sky!

He probably DOES have an Icarus complex. =0

[jimfree]

To infinity and beyond!!!!

[jimfree]

Interesting idea for Special Forces. I wonder what the range is. Darn right SEALs or Green Berets might want to employ this stand-off weapon to penetrate. Wonder also what weight it can carry and how low it can fly - can it go in low like a cruise missile? Our Navy joke was to put the SEAL with a knife in his teeth into the giant slingshot, retract and release. This might be a cool way to do that.

[dcwusmc]

PING

[TailspinJim]

Don’t let the bad guys get a hold of this.....they’ll strap it on some suicide nut job looking for his 76 virgins.

[Revolting cat!]

Flying cars are just around the corner!

[TailspinJim]

Na....anti gravity is the way to go. Be the first on your block to have your own personal saucer.

[Grizzled Bear]

Would you have said the same thing about Orville and Wilbur Wright? How about the early aviators?

Who Dares, Wins.

[BIGLOOK]

Rocketman ping.

Rudder and ailerons by Nike.

[A.A. Cunningham]

So is the four hour guideline.

[the invisib1e hand]

Who Dares, Wins.

I dare you.

[the invisib1e hand]

that was so easy.

[Baynative]

"I thought it was great! Life imitates art."

Think back to the fantasies of DaVinci.

I hope he is witnessing this stuff and smiling from the heavens.

[the invisib1e hand]

Pretty damn cool if you ask me.

It really is. It's captivating...what a sight; what a vote for ingenuity and effort and joy and dedication...I guess I could go on and on and still not capture what that photo says...but it says a lot of good things to me.

[the invisib1e hand]

one heck of an exercise machine there.

[driftless2]

"flying cars"

And with it falling cars. Mechanical malfunctions hundreds of feet in the air mean death.

[Mustng959]

I watched the video of this on Good Morning America yesterday, ..... it was AWESOME! The video captured the speed he was traveling quite well. Looked like IronMan in the movie frolicking with the F-22’s.

[Squantos]

Will have to read and see if they list the range of this new and improved people mover.......:o)

Cool !

[GPSkins]

Pretty awesome indeed - for other cool projects check out Intel’s International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)...there are some awesome projects going on there...too bad there are no flying machines, but they got some neat stuff regardless

http://www.intelisef2008.org/

[Grizzled Bear]

I triple dog dare you!

[Redcitizen]

I can remember the GI joe characters and thier assorted gear. My friend said there was a glider that looked like this one. Wow. I watched Ironman and I agree with your comment.