A 'Flying Man' over Champs-Elysées at Bastille Day celebration

French inventor and entrepreneur Franky Zapata stole the show at the Bastille Day Celebration in France on Sunday with his top creation, the engine-powered Flyboard, when he flew above the crowd paraded down the Champs-Elysees to mark the day. He flew on his flyboard in front of President Emmanuel Macron and other EU leaders.

Earlier, Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told French radio that the Flyboard “can allow tests for different kinds of uses, for example as a flying logistical platform or, indeed, as an assault platform.”

Zapata, grasping a rifle in a sign of the possible military uses of his device, first developed his creation flying above water. According to him, the flyboard has the power to take off and reach speeds up to 190 kilometres an hour (118 mph) and run for 10 minutes.

He is now going to cross the English Channel on July 25, 110 years to the day after pioneering aviator Louis Bleriot made the first airplane flight across the Channel.

By Ana Dumbadze