UK News
Attempt to cross English Channel by pedal-power fails
Sep 28, 2008, 17:05 GMT
London - Wind conditions prevented adventurer Stephane Rousson successfully crossing the English Channel in a pedal-powered aircraft on Sunday.
The 39-year-old Frenchman set off for Wissant in France from the English county of Kent at around 8.00 am (9 GMT) in a contraption composed of a 16-metre-long Zeppelin with a gondola strapped underneath in which Rousson powered propellers with a device similar to bicycle pedals.
He was stopped 18 kilometres short of his 45 kilometre journey by a change in wind direction.
'I'm not disappointed,' said Rousson. 'I feel happy because it had nothing to do with any technical failure, it was purely the wind that got in the way of this achievement.'
The trip would have been the second unorthodox flight across the English Channel in two days. Swiss adventurer Yves Rossi - also known as Fusionman - on Friday became the first person to fly solo between Britain and France using a jet-propelled wing.
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