"Crossing the Channel with a pedal-powered airship is both totally unnecessary and a very eloquent statement on human nature," said Stephane Rousson, the 39-year-old man who plans to do it if only the winds (and his stamina) will cooperate.

Rousson is hoping for a near-windless day to facilitate his attempt next month. His airship, Zeppy, is a helium-filled, slightly heavier-than-air craft propelled by two tilting propellers and powered by Rousson, himself.



The flight plan would call for a flight of about 34 miles from Lydd in Kent to Wissant, a French Coastal village, at an altitude of about 100 feet. Rousson has 30 hours of experience flying the craft, which he acquired from his father Jean-Marc and Luc Geiser, who together designed and built it. Rousson's father has since passed and did not live to see the aircraft's maiden flight. Now history may witness its next.