After water landing, French 'rocketman' succeeds English Channel crossing

 A Frenchman who has spent years developing a jet-powered hoverboard zoomed across the English Channel on Sunday after a first attempt last month was cut short when he fell into the water while trying to refuel.

Franky Zapata set off on his "Flyboard" from Sangatte on the northern coast of France for the 20-minute trip to St. Margaret's Bay in Dover, on England's south coast.

Escorted by three helicopters, Zapata glided across the water in the early morning light and landed in the picturesque bay, where dozens of onlookers and journalists awaited him.

The five turbines on the former jet-ski champion's craft propel him at speeds of up to 190 kilometres (118 miles) an hour, powered by a backpack full of kerosene that can keep him airborne for around 10 minutes.

He had planned to make the 35-kilometre crossing in 20 minutes, keeping an average speed of 140 kilometres an hour at a height of 15-20 metres above the water.

Zapata tumbled into the middle of the busy shipping lane on July 25 after failing to land on a boat waiting in English waters to give him a fresh pack of kerosene.

"The trickiest part is really the refuelling," the 40-year-old Zapata said last Thursday. "I didn't let up on the gas at the right moment."

"Aviation is the result of people who have had failures, and it's by getting back up that we move forward," he said.

This time the refuelling boat was bigger and had a larger landing area, and French navy vessels in the area kept an eye out in case of trouble.

French maritime authorities gave Zapata's team permission to keep the refuelling boat in French waters, something they had refused the first time around citing safety concerns.