Dude Made a Jetpack
by MaxPower
Glenn Martin, a New Zealander, has spent 27 of his 48 years developing what he calls the world's first practical jet pack. In advance of its formal unveiling Tuesday at EAA AirVenture, the gigantic annual air show here, he said he hoped to begin selling them next year for $100,000 each.
Jetpacks (real ones) of the past have been things which could maybe fly for a minute or two. This Kiwi has made an actual "jet pack" well more accurately a prop engine pack, but same thing really. Strap two engines on your back an go for a ride. The guy also is great for quotes:
"People come up and go, 'Is it safe?"' Martin said. "Safety is a relative thing. We think we have done a lot to make this by far the safest jet pack ever built." But, he acknowledged, "it's not a high bar."
Safety features include a spring loaded shock absorber for landing, a rocket deployed ejection chute and the design of the engines to have a low centre of gravity as to avoid tipping over in the air and re-creating the "lawn dart effect"... oh yeah.
He repeated the story of Benjamin Franklin, on first seeing a hot-air balloon, being asked, "What good is it?" He answered, "What good is a newborn baby?"