Count us among the skeptics when the first teaser for the Flyboard Air came out last month. Turns out, it’s more real than any hoverboard we’ve seen before, as the darn thing just set the Guinness World Record for the furthest distance traveled on a hovering transporter.
According to Guinness, inventor Franky Zapata, who also made the original Flyboard, rode the device a total of 7,388 feet – over 6,300 feet further than the previous record holder. And he did that while performing a clean landing, too, making things look really, really good for what appears to be humanity’s greatest hope for a functional commercial hoverboard.
During the record-setting flight, Zapata flew the Flyboard Air 100 feet or so above the water off the coast of Sausset-les-Pins in the south of France, maneuvering it from the takeoff platform on Carry-le Rouet to the local port. It reached a reported top speed of 44 mph during the seven minute flight, although Zapata Racing claims that the device can actually hit up to 93 mph, as well as reach heights of up to 10,000 feet and stay airborne for up to 10 minutes in a single charge.
Unlike many hoverboard projects that attempt to mimic a skateboard form factor, the Flyboard Air actually looks more like Green Goblin’s hovercraft. Still a work in progress, though, it doesn’t appear to have much in the way of safety systems for now, which is why Zapata sticks to flying it over water, which should allow him to crash safely in the event of a malfunction.
Read about the Flyboard Air’s record-setting flight on the Guiness World Records website.