Aircraft

Jetman soars over Dubai in formation with Airbus A380

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Jetman flies above an Airbus A380 passenger jet in Dubai
Jetman flies above an Airbus A380 passenger jet in Dubai
The low margin for error meant that the flight patterns were carefully choreographed
The formation flight took place in the skies over Dubai
"Jetman" has strapped in his set of kevlar wings over the skies of Dubai to fly alongside the largest commercial aircraft there is, an Airbus A380 passenger jet
In the surreal video released by Emirates, Rossy and his sidekick Vince Reffet are dropped from a helicopter at an altitude of 5,500 ft (1,676 m)
To keep pace with the aircraft, the duo had to push their relatively small jetpack engines to their limits
View gallery - 6 images

Daredevil Yves Rossy has never been afraid to think big when it comes to high-altitude stuntwork, but when it comes to wingmen, it doesn't come any bigger than this. "Jetman" has strapped on his set of kevlar wings and taken to the skies of Dubai to fly alongside the largest commercial aircraft there is, an Airbus A380 passenger jet.

In the video, Rossy and his sidekick Vince Reffet are dropped from a helicopter at an altitude of 5,500 ft (1,676 m) and join the enormous aircraft as it soars over the city at 4,000 ft (1,219 m). The low margin for error meant that the flight patterns were carefully choreographed for the sake of safety, but also to ensure the production team could get the shots needed to make a badass video.

"We will be mosquitos flying with an eagle or a condor," Rossy said ahead of the flight.

The low margin for error meant that the flight patterns were carefully choreographed

To keep pace with the aircraft and fly in formation, the duo had to push the small jetpack engines to their limits, meaning they could fly for no longer than 10 minutes at a time. With this small window to work in, the footage shows Rossy and Reffet in a series of tight holding patterns on either side of the plane before finally breaking away to (relative) safety.

You can watch this insane footage below, while the second video details some of the planning that went into the stunt.

Source: Jetman

View gallery - 6 images
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3 comments
GizEngineer
Don't get too close to those wingtip vortices guys, or you'll end up like the XB-70 crash.
Wolf0579
They were keeping a safe separation... damn, I want to fly one of those rigs!
darkstar01
Yeah rocket packs are cool and all, but this is more of an advertisement for Dubai, and the Arab emirates... soooo who cares?