This real hoverboard can soar at 93 mph

It's unfortunate, but the term 'hoverboard' tends to bring up more images of spontaneously-combusting two-wheeled scooters than cool devices that actually hover. Thankfully that trend is slowly starting to die off, largely due to the fact that most of them have been banned from making their way into the country. And that means it's the perfect time to show off something that can really hover.

Franky Zapata has been after the dream of a real hoverboard since he came up with his Flyboard, back in 2011. The device was hooked to a jet ski, and allowed you to hover around 30 feet in the air. While that was pretty cool, he's now got something much more exciting in the works. Check out this video of the first flight test of the Flyboard Air.

As you can see in the video, this device doesn't just hover, it flies. According to the company, it has a maximum altitude of 10,000 feet, and a top speed of of just over 93 mph. The maximum flight time is around 10 minutes. That's incredible, especially for how small the device is. Of course, it's going to be extremely dangerous as well, so it's not the sort of thing that you'll be riding to work anytime in the near future.

The company hasn't released a lot of other information about the Flyboard air. From what we can tell, it appears to use a single turbine engine, with a simple remote controlling the speed of the engine. It looks as though the movement of the device is actually controlled by his body movements. It's possible that there is something a little more complex at work here. It also looks like he has a fuel tank strapped to his back, which would really be the only place to keep it.

So far Zapata and company aren't ready to dive into details just yet. Their video promised a "Mission One" coming soon, so we'll keep an eye out for whatever that might be.

Source: Zapata-Racing