This lunchtime Rocketman Yves Rossy will jump from a helicopter 10,000 feet over the Port of Calais, unfold his wings and fire up his jets in an attempt to cross the Channel in this record breaking attempt.
Following a route set by the first man to make the crossing in a plane almost 100 years ago Rossy is reliant upon four simple jet engines to get him over the 21 mile expanse of water into Dover airspace.
The journey should take about 15 minutes if the weather conditions are in his favour, any headwind could see the fuel run out early or crosswinds blow him off track, the only way to steer this machine is by pointing your head the way you want to go.
Rossy has made several test flights over the past months, pushing the wings to their limits in wind tunnels and over the Swiss Alps.
When his record attempt nears the end there’s the small issue of getting back to terra-firma as a conventional landing is out of the question.
Deploying a series of parachutes Yves will let a small one out to slow him down at around 1,800 feet in the air before a larger one deploys to stop any further forward motion and helping him float to the ground.
Catch the journey on the National Geographic Channel
