When video surfaced of a hoverboard in action a few weeks ago—not those ones that roll around on the ground, but a hoverboard that actually flies—there were plenty of YouTube comments questioning its authenticity. It is most definitely real, and its creator just set a world record for distance in a hoverboard flight.




The “Flyboard Air” hoverboard comes from Franky Zapata and Zapata Racing, creators of the original “Flyboard”—the contraption that uses water propulsion to shoot dare devils up into the air over a body of water. Zapata took his new board—the one that flies on its own—out for a spin over southern France on Saturday, setting a new Guinness World Record farthest hoverboard flight.

Below is a video from a test flight of Zapata’s hoverboard, which isn’t the one in which he set the world record:

The flight that broke the world record was 2,252 meters long, and Zapata completed it with both boats and jet skies trailing behind. Zapata rose to 50 meters—or just over 164 feet—in the air during this particular attempt, but claims are that the device can reach a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet.


In addition to the high altitude capabilities, the hoverboard is also claimed to be able to fly at up to 93 mph and has a flight time of 10 minutes. For now, Zapata keeps his flights low and over lakes in order to run tests on the prototype.

All things considered, it’s cool to live in a time when people can break world records involving hoverboards. Just think about it—all of those corny phrases about believing you can fly are actually, like, possible now.