Editing English Channel (section)

=== By air ===
{{Main|List of English Channel crossings by air}}
The first aircraft to cross the Channel was a [[balloon (aircraft)|balloon]] in 1785, piloted by [[Jean-Pierre Blanchard|Jean Pierre François Blanchard]] (France) and [[John Jeffries]] (US).<ref name="EB">"[http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9015591 Blanchard, Jean-Pierre-François]." {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221203094306/https://academic.eb.com/ |date=3 December 2022 }}. ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' Online. Retrieved 17 October 2009.</ref>

[[Louis Blériot]] (France) piloted the first aeroplane to cross in 1909.

On 26 September 2008, Swiss [[Yves Rossy]] aka ''Jetman'' became the first person to cross the English Channel with a [[Jet-powered wingsuit|Jet Powered Wing]],
He jumped from a [[Pilatus Porter]] over [[Calais, France]], Rossy crossed the English Channel where he deployed his parachute and landed in [[Dover]]<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Randerson |first1=James |date=26 September 2008 |title=Jet Man flies across Channel on a wing |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2008/sep/26/aeronautics }}</ref>

The first [[flying car]] to have crossed the English Channel is a Pégase designed by the French company Vaylon on 14 June 2017. It was piloted by a Franco-Italian pilot Bruno Vezzoli. This crossing was carried out as part of the first road and air trip from Paris to London in a flying car. Pegase is a 2 seats road approved dune buggy and a [[Paramotor|powered paraglider]]. The takeoff was at 8:03&nbsp;a.m. from [[Ambleteuse]] in the North of France and landing was at East Studdal, near Dover. The flight was completed in 1 hour and 15 minutes for a total distance covered of {{Convert|72.5|km|mi|abbr=on}} including {{Convert|33.3|km|mi|abbr=on}} over the English Channel at an altitude of {{convert|1240|m|ft}} .<ref>{{Cite news |last=Paris |first=Charles Bremner |title=Frenchman flies a car to Dover |newspaper=[[The Times]] |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/frenchman-flies-a-car-to-dover-03jdz98ks |access-date=5 August 2020 |issn=0140-0460}}</ref>

On 12 June 1979, the first [[human-powered aircraft]] to cross the English Channel was the ''[[Gossamer Albatross]]'', built by American [[aeronautical engineer]] Dr. [[Paul B. MacCready]]'s company [[AeroVironment]], and piloted by [[Bryan Allen (hang glider)|Bryan Allen]]. The {{convert|35.7|km|adj=on|mi|abbr=on}} crossing was completed in 2 hours and 49 minutes.<ref>{{cite web|title=Gossamer Albatross|url=https://www.avinc.com/about/gossamer_albatross/|publisher=AeroVironment, Inc|access-date=March 26, 2015}}</ref>

On 4 August 2019, Frenchman [[Franky Zapata]] became the first person to cross the English Channel on a jet-powered [[Flyboard Air]]. The board was powered by a kerosene-filled backpack. Zapata made the {{Convert|35.4|km|mi|abbr=on}} journey in 22 minutes, having landed on a boat half-way across to refuel.<ref>{{Cite news |title=From France to the UK by flyboard |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-49226353/man-crosses-english-channel-by-flyboard |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190804124419/https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-49226353/man-crosses-english-channel-by-flyboard |archive-date=4 August 2019 |access-date=4 August 2019 |language=en-GB}}</ref>