Anyone who thinks this is cool is too easily impressed. He needs to do it naked. And land on roller skates. Honestly.. whats so great about attaching yourself to a fixed wing with propulsion units and then doing THE EASY PART of the flight (conveniently bypassing the taking off and landing parts)

Abdo, London,

"what about felix baumgartner? he crossed the channel a few years ago with his sting ray wing? he did it and had no jet engines. "

True & that was a remarkable feat in itself. Baumgartner needed to jump from 30,000 ft to make it across in glide/freefall.

Rossy has just raised the bar now.

Gareth, HH, UK

Given that gliders almost routinely flew across the channel back in the second world war (having been winch launched from England) to drop of operatives, I view this as being only moderately impressive, more show than pioneering.

Nick, Amersham,

No big deal ?????
So why nobody did it before ?
I've seen him flying more than 100knots !
Amazing

fred, Montmorency, france

Any hammerhead that thinks this is no great feat is sitting on the postereir laden head This guys got guts and the smarts to go with it I

NIck, Newcastle, usa

Congratulations, Mr Rossy! A fantastic achievement! I bet that was a proper good buzz!

Toby Johnson, Hastings, England

This was an amazing accomplishment, and Mr Rossy deserves nothing but praise, both for giving birth to a dream, and following it through to a high profile trip. The world NEEDS heroes. All the sourpuss(i)es and their derogatory comments demonstrate that need quite clearly.

Nick, Coventry,

Fantastic! What a true real life hero! no words can describe this!
Well done! you will go down in history as the true rocketeer!
Good luck for the future!

Phil MacIver, Turriff,, Scotland

Wright brothers stuff FIRST CLASS.

Jon Nemo, Llanelli, UK

Sour grapes, Roy. This is essentially still a test flight, there is no doubt that, once a method for ground takeoff is safely developed, someone will do just that.

By the way, no para-glider/parafoil has ever done this, even though that technology has been around for decades. Hmmm.

Ian, Richmond,

I think it is a great accomplishment. I would be great to see him take off from land and land on land, but this is the first time for something like this. The difference between a para-glider and this is that he is the vehicle. The wing and jets are part of his aircraft as much as he is.

Michael Leyba, Midland, Texas, USA

what about felix baumgartner? he crossed the channel a few years ago with his sting ray wing?
he did it and had no jet engines.

dr noise, nyc,

What a man!! what a hero. When we are surrounded by political pygmys and total incompetants who seem intent on screwing it all up, along comes this fella with a display of bravery and self belief. Pity he aint a politician ,but then he has to much self respect and ability to stoop that low.

Terry Gray, Halesowen, England

The first I heard of this, I thought: tosser. It ain't no Bleriot moment. But then I saw the pictures. He IS the aircraft. Much respect.

Ali Duncan, Castle Cary, UK

It's St Magarets at Cliffe not "St Marys Bay" - oh well.. glad I was there anyway!

Art Jessop, Folkestone, UK

I suspect - hope - that Roy and Nick ave fundamentally misunderstood what Rossy achieved yesterday and are now eating their ill-chosen words. "No big deal" my foot!

Dave, Kent, UK

Well Graeme,
If it's a little feat do it yourself!
Strap a pair of roller blades to your chest and show us how it's done!
And of course built a wing and propulsion units and get it all to work.
It's very hard to get the total package to fly: Weight, balance, Structure, power. etc. Amazing feat!

Roy, Zandvoort, Netherlands

Big deal, he can't take off except by jumping out of a plane, and he can't land except with a parachute. So all he is doing is a parachute jump with a fast horizontal component. Taking off and landing are important, get some roller blades and start at ground level, climb, travel, descend and land.

Graeme Henderson, Tara, Australia

Bravo ! Top work fella !

Olivier, London, UK

To those who say this is no big deal, you don't know much about aviation or your are envious. Nick Thomas, you talk of your K-12 glider. That is an aircraft, with a structure and controls and no power. This guy has a small wing on his back and he is the rest of the powered aircraft.

Peter Barber, Adelaide, Australia

Superb. But how much did it actually cost. James Bond material as well as Military.

JoJo, Plymouth, UK

Robert, from Hythe (a Kent man?) should know that the landing site was actually near the South Foreland lighthouse. Norh Foreland being on the Isle of Thanet, some 15 miles north. Wonderful video and a daring feat.

Tony, Canterbury, UK

Outstanding stuff, this. Real 'Boys' Own material and thank heavens that has attracted so much media attention. M. Rossy embodies the spirit of self-belief and determination; I reckon he deserves his place in the record books and I look forward to seeing more of his dreams coming true.

Derek Wheeler, Oswestry, Shropshire, UK

A spectacular feat on a spectacular day-not a cloud n the sky, but he landed at North Foreland near to St Margret's- at- Cliffe.About two miles east of Dover.

Robert Williams, Hythe, UK

he just demonstrated that paratroops can be dropped 20 miles away from their target and fly in the rest of the way

john regan, London, UK

No big deal ????
So why nobody did it before ?
I was in the Cessna folowing him.
It was amazing to see him like a small plane to more than 100 knots.
No instruments, no flaps only his body.
I'll remember this moment long time ago.

Fred, Paris, France

If Roy thinks this is no big deal, he could not be very informed on the matter. The point is that he is a powered "aircraft", not a glider. Lots of gliders have crossed the channel since the 1930s, whether with wings or parafoils etc. Rossy flies at 100 knots in constant speed level flight.

Jorg andersen, Vienna, Austria

Roy; what?? This man flew across the channel on a flippin' homemade jetpack! A device which is manifestly incapable of gliding any particular distance. If it hadn't worked, he'd have dropped like a stone. Instead, he proved his home-built contraption worked perfectly, and I salute his triumph.

Amos, Asheville, USA

How ignorant are you? Maybe you should go on your first skydive and put your theory to the test. I'm a pilot and a skydiver and this is an amazing feat to accomplish. Only 7k ft.? Wow incredible.

Scott, Atlanta,

One word: awesome!!
Now I'm waiting for "No big deal Roy, Staines," to do the same.

Peter, Mexico City, Mexico

It isn't a great deal, I have descended from much the same height on a stretched glide path (no engines, no showy "jet" packs) and covered more miles in a K-12 glider. Total hype

Nick Thomas , Am,ersham,

No big deal- he jumped at about 7000 feet and I reckon that a bloke on a para-glider/parafoil could have done it. Now if he had taken off at sea level or even of the cliffs and actually landed conventionally- then that would been some feat.

Roy, Staines,