Swiss adventurer Yves Rossy ditched in the sea on Wednesday due to turbulence, foiling his bid to make aviation history by flying from Africa to Europe using a jet-powered wing attached to his back.

The former fighter pilot was plucked from the water by a helicopter carrying a team of paramedics that had been following him throughout the attempt and taken to a hospital for a check-up where he got a clean bill of health.

He said he decided to launch his parachute and abort his attempt to cross the Strait of Gibraltar ? the first intercontinental flight using just a jetpack ? after encountering turbulence in the clouds.

"The wing I had on my back is not easy to fly. There were bigger clouds than expected. It was turbulent, I faced instability in the clouds," the 50-year-old told a news conference after leaving hospital.

Halfway there

Rossy was about half-way through his planned 38-kilometre trip between Tangier in Morocco to Atlanterra in southern Spain when he parachuted into the ocean. The trip had been expected to last 13 minutes.

He began the voyage by leaping from the side of a plane from a height of about 2000 metres while wearing a flame-retardant suit.

Rossy said all four jet engines which power the carbon-fired wing, which is two metres across and weighs 60 kilos, were activated. The wing was designed by Rossy and is steered by the pilot's body.

"It was at no moment risky, it was always under control, just in the wrong way," he said.

"I would love to try another intercontinental crossing again but I don't know when. This is the beginning of a new way of flying, individual air transport."

Rossy gave the thumbs up sign and walked off the helicopter unaided when it landed in Spain before giving his waiting partner a hug.