When the first video of Zapata's invention went viral, there was much chatter online and much of it cried "fake." But we traveled to Carry-le-Rouet on the Mediterranean coast in April 2016 to see see it ourselves and witnessed the French fly-boy completely obliterate the existing hoverboard flight record.

Since then, the Flyboard Air has made many public appearances, been the subject of an attempted buyout and caught the attention of the French president when a rifle-carrying Zapata circled above Bastille Day celebrations on July 14. At 9 am this morning, Zapata and the Flyboard Air took off from the coast of northern France in an attempt to cross La Manche.

According to the BBC, at about the halfway mark, Zapata failed to negotiate a refueling stop and fell into the water. The jaunt from Sangatte near Calais to St Margaret's Bay in Dover was estimated to take about 20 minutes, but since the flight time per fully-loaded kerosene backpack is only 10 minutes, a refueling boat was waiting at the midway point.

But it wasn't to be, as reports indicate that choppy conditions prevented stable refueling and the attempt came to a watery end. Zapata was not injured as he dropped into the Channel. It's not known at this point if another attempt will be made, but we'd put money on it.