Controversy over flight record claim

A French pilot claimed to have made aviation history with the first flight in a manned electric plane across the English Channel from land to land — but the stunt faced controversy following a claim to the record by a rival pilot.

More than 100 years after French aviation pioneer Louis Bleriot became the first person to fly across the Channel in a plane, Didier Esteyne flew in a battery-powered prototype.

But hours before he set off, another French pilot, Hugues Duval, claimed to have upstaged Esteyne by flying his Cri-Cri electric plane across the Channel on Thursday.