Yves Rossy

Jetman

With a jet-powered wing attached to his body, Yves Rossy expands the possibilities of human flight.

Why you should listen

On May 7 of this year, Swiss pilot Yves Rossy stepped out of a helicopter 8,000 feet above the Grand Canyon and ... took off. Wearing a rigid wing powered by four model jet turbine engines, Rossy flew for eight minutes over the mile-deep trench, soaring over the red rocks before parachuting down to the Colorado River far below. It's the latest exploit in a life powered by one dream: to fly like a bird.

Wearing his single wing, Rossy really flies, steering with the movements of his body. In the last couple of years he has crossed the English Channel, flown over the Swiss Alps and performed aerobatic loops around a hot-air balloon; for his next quest, he is developing a new kind of parachute that will enable him to fly as low as 200 meters.

What others say

“It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Yves Rossy!” — Accelerating Future

Yves Rossy’s TED talk

14:48

Yves Rossy

Fly with the Jetman

Posted Nov 2011

More news and ideas from Yves Rossy

News

TED News in Brief: Yves Rossy flies ‘round Mount Fuji, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams goes long-form, and more

November 12, 2013

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIhuisot7XA&w=586&h=330] Yves Rossy (watch his talk) is known as the “Jetman,” because he zips through the air on a pair of jet-powered wings. Last week, he flew around Japan’s Mount Fuji. Nine times. And then spoke to Business Insider about it. Twitter co-founder Evan Williams (watch his talk) talks to The New York Times about […]