AMBLETEUSE and BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, France (Reuters) – French pilot Bruno Vezzoli performed on Tuesday (June 13) the final checks for a cross-Channel flight attempt on Wednesday (June 14) aboard a flying car aptly named ‘Pegasus’ (‘Pegase’) – a winged horse in Greek mythology.
He said he felt confident the flight attempt would be a success, unlike another Greek hero, Icarus, whose endeavor failed when he flew too near to the Sun.
Vezzoli is expected to take off around 0530 GMT from an abandoned wartime runway located in Ambleteuse, a town located on the French northern coastline between Calais and Boulogne-sur-Mer. The journey is expected to take between 20 and 70 minutes depending on weather conditions.
If successful, the aircraft will land 59 kilometers away from its starting point in East Studdal, a village near Dover, England.
The entrepreneur behind the flying car, former journalist Jerome Dauffy, said he was inspired by French writer Jules Verne and his initial ambition was to build a flying machine that could complete a world tour in 80 days.
Dauffy also said he wanted to walk in the footsteps of aviation pioneers Alberto Santos-Dumont and Louis Bleriot.
He described the vehicle – a kind of dune buggy with a paraglider’s propeller, which requires and a driving and a pilot license – as very light with ‘off-road capacities’ and able to fly over obstacles.
