horizontal position. Yves straps on a delta
wing powered by four small model-aircraft
jet engines, jumps from an airplane—and
then the fun begins.
There are no instruments. And most
astounding, no ailerons, elevators, rudder, or
any other aerodynamic controls. Yves steers
his flying wing using his body—arching his
back for pitch control and angling his head
to execute a banked turn. After 10 minutes
or so of heart-stopping soaring through
space, Yves deploys his parachute and
descends to a gentle landing. He may be the
most daring pilot alive.
diving. By land he ran barefoot, rode a
mountain bike, a horse, and a motorcycle,
and drove a race car. He found time to go
mountaineering, skiing, and snowboard-
ing. If that wasn’t enough, he took to the
Jetman’s journey to the sky began in the
late 1970s. A youthful Yves began his educa-
tion with a mechanics apprenticeship—not
related to aviation—and earned a degree in
engineering. He learned to fly under a Swiss
USING TECHNOLOGY, HE HAS RETURNED TO
AVIATION’S EARLY ROOTS—FEELING THE SPEED,
DENSITY, AND TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR FROM
A HORIZONTAL POSITION.
THE MAN BEHIND THE WING
To get a sense of Yves, you have to look no
further than a one-day tour of his native
Switzerland he conducted in 1991. By air
he flew a DC- 9, a helicopter, and a hang
glider and went paragliding and sky
water where he piloted a speedboat and
went water-skiing, wakeboarding, kayak-
ing, and white-water rafting. Most people
won’t do all that in a lifetime, but for Yves
it was all in a day’s work.
state-funded program and joined the Swiss
air force at the age of 20. He flew Northrop
F- 5 Tigers, Dassault Mirage IIIs, and the
Hawker Hunter, which he still flies with the
Amici dell Hunter association.
