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Last Updated: Friday September 26 2008 12:24 GMT

Jet-man zooms into record books

Yves Rossy flying with his jet-propelled wing

A Swiss pilot has zoomed into record books by becoming the first person to fly solo across the English Channel using a single jet-propelled wing.

Yves Rossy - also known as Fusionman - flew in a plane to 3,000m, lit the jets on his homemade wing, then leapt out.

He went soaring across the sky at speeds of more than 200km per hour to make the 35.4 km journey from Calais to Dover in less than 10 minutes.

Bad weather had cancelled two earlier attempts, so it was third time lucky.

Jet-wing facts
Yves Rossy
The wing is 2.5m wide
It has no steering! Yves has to use his head and back to change direction
The wing weighs about 55kg, including fuel
Yves' jet-propelled wing is 2.5 metres wide and has four simple jet engines on it to keep him in the air.

He's spent the past few months tweaking its design and testing it out during practice flights in the Swiss Alps.

His daredevil stunt has made some people compare him to flying superhero Superman, while others say he's more like Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story.