The power of flight is something that has intrigued humans going back to Greek times. Icarus and his wax wings are one example of the freedom people saw in the power of flight. A Swiss man named Yves Rossy has become the modern day equivalent of Icarus with one supreme difference -- Rossy didn’t fall to his death.

One other minor difference between Rossy and Icarus is that Rossy’s wing was made from carbon and rather than flapping his arms like a bird, Rossy used a jet engine strapped to his back. Rossy’s contraption didn’t allow him to take off from the ground like the fabled Icarus; rather he was dropped from an airplane at an altitude of about 8,000 feet over the Swiss Alps.

Rossy jumped from the plane equipped with a parachute and his folded wing. During his freefall Rossy unfolded his wing, ignited his jet engine and proceeded to blast into the record books as the first person to fly with nothing but a wing and a jet engine.

Rossy reportedly reached speeds as high as 186 MPH and performed some basic aerobatics like barrel rolls for the crowd (most of whom probably expected to witness an Icarus-like crash). Rossy told Reuters after his flight, “Happiness, an extraordinary sense of fullness to have once again been able to fly and mostly to show it, because it's one thing to do it on one's own, but to be able to share it live like today, that's extraordinary."

According to Rossy this wasn’t his first attempt at flight. In March of 2003 Rossy says he tried and failed at a similar flight using an inflatable wing. His latest ridged wing made of carbon coupled with his jet engine allows him a flight time of 5 minutes and 40 seconds. After running out of fuel for his jet engine Rossy parachuted to a landing at the Bex airdrome.