Most of us have, at some point, watched a superhero film or a bird in flight and wished we could simply fly off the ground just like avians do, but for most of us, all of it just stays in the imagination.But a man from Hubei province in China built a hoverboard for himself and has lately been spending his time flying over mountains and rivers.
Meet Song Xingyu : Chinese man who built a hoverboard and spends time flying over mountains and rivers
Song Xingyu, 26, from Hubei province, known online as “Amazing Ayu”, shared a video on 15 October showing a hoverboard he spent about two months building, flying over mountains and the Yangtze River. According to a report by the South China Morning Post, he finished the flight over mountain peaks and city streets and landed safely in a canyon on the machine that looks like a flying skateboard inspired by the Spider-Man villain ‘Green Goblin’s glider.However, Song’s road here was not smooth. He left school at 14 to work in his father’s sawmill and in 2022 he took loans to turn his father’s idle woodworking shed into a laboratory. Song’s love of flying began when he watched a TV programme about testing aircraft. He was so taken with planes that he started gathering scrap materials and used them to build his first model aircraft.But he was left in trouble and danger when a scam left him 2.4 million yuan in debt before Insta360 stepped in with 1.8 million yuan in funding. Support came in December 2025 through the company’s “Think Bold Challenge Fund.”Following this, six months later, he jumped from a helicopter at 5,000 metres wearing a homemade jet-powered device. His main parachute failed, and the backup opened only 600 metres above the ground. Before that jump, he recorded a last will, which included the line, “Please, everyone, do not follow my example.”
He worked to improve the hoverboard design for nearly two months
This year, Song set his eyes on a new project inspired by Spider-Man. He wanted to build a real version of the flying glider that the Green Goblin, the villain in obne of the movies, uses in the story.His first attempt used small jet engines, but it caught fire during testing. So he switched to electric power instead.After more work, he built an AI-monitored hoverboard meant to carry four adults. He also put in a lot of balance training so he could ride it safely.During China’s National Day holiday in October, he carried out a big test flight in Enshi. He flew the hoverboard over the Yangtze River, mountain peaks and city streets, then landed safely in a canyon.Looking back on his journey, Song said he started with nothing, so he has little to fear from failure. He believes moving forward with courage is the best choice, and he hopes to keep pushing the limits of physics with his inventions.