Finally, Someone Invented and Tested A Hoverboard That Actually Flies

With how fast the world is changing and greatest technological innovations are coming left and right, it’s not surprising to get a taste of the future and be blown away by some ‘out of this world’ stuff that we used to only read in books or watch in ‘sci-fi flicks. ‘The future is here and now,’ so they say.

At first glance, you might remember Green Goblin’s glider from the Spiderman movie or another version from the classic film ‘Back to the Future.’ But this is no movie though. This is the real deal.

Zapata Racing, a company known for creating water and jet ski powered hoverboards uploaded a video which quickly went viral, now with almost 5 million views on YouTube. It features French jet ski champion Franky Zapata with his latest and futuristic aircraft– the Flyboard Air or the so-called ‘revolutionary hoverboard.’

Yes, it just got real.

According to him, the Flyboard Air began 4 years ago which took its first test flight on March, 2016. And it took them ‘two years to create the great turboreactors and algorithms to stabilize the Flyboard.’ It uses an ‘Independent Propulsion Unit’ to fly hose-free and can stay airborne for up to ten minutes. The Flyboard Air is consist of three parts– the board, fuel tank and a remote. There are a total of 4 engines inside with 250 horsepower each.

While many of you maybe ecstatic to try one, the Flyboard Air founder said that only those with flyboard experience can try it.

“It’s impossible to ride it before you have a minimum of 50 or 100 hours in the original Flyboard with water,” Zapata told The Verge.

Zapata recently set a Guinness World Record title for the Farthest hoverboard flight off the coast of Sausset-les-Pins, France on the 30th of April, 2016. He managed a new benchmark distance of 2,252 meters (7,388 feet) going far beyond the previous record of 275.9 meters (905 feet, 2 inches) set last year by Canadian Catalin Alexandru Duru.

“This has really been a life’s work.”

A truly ingenious, cool and futuristic work at that. Meanwhile, despite setting a world record and blowing our minds with his Flyboard Air invention, Zapata is far from being done and continues to improve his project. Another goal like ‘riding in the clouds,’ (perhaps) is in the works too.