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I don't expect you mere wingless mortals to truly appreciate the accomplishment of a pilot who just crossed the 35km English Channel with a jetpack—that'd be like someone who can't read claiming to love the study of Cuneiform—but from one rocket man to another, I salute you, Yves Rossy.
There's more than a little scepticism surrounding the new Martin Jetpack. Promising a new era of ultralight flight, many of the claims (altitude capabilities and safety, especially) sound too good to be true. Before we took our test flight, we asked Glenn Martin, inventor, some of the tougher questions that we hadn't seen asked anywhere else. Being a good sport, he actually answered them:
"Don't cover your ears, this is what you paid to see!" Glenn Martin shouts to me over the apocalyptic roar of an F22 fighter jet performing a leisurely flyby. He'd abruptly broken off a conversation with someone else just to make this point--before we'd even been introduced and hours before I flew his pack. "That's 3.15 billion of your tax dollars at work!"
I flip the ignition switch and 113kg of engines, turbines and gasoline roar hello. In terms of horsepower, I was carrying a small sports car on my back. I'd like to say that I grin confidently and give the cameras a wink, like some young Chuck Yeager or Evel Knievel, but the smile leaves my face.
Jetpacks are great, but never could they reach the levels of ridiculousness this strap-on helicopter provides with its rocket-powered rotor blades. The pack is powered by two hydrogen fuel canisters and the rockets at the end of the blades negate the need for a tail rotor. It's entirely possible this is just a drawing that will never actually get made. But as DVICE points out, Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana, the firm that designed this, made an actual prototype of their last jet pack. So I'm holding my breath for some trial videos to hit YouTube. [Tecnologia Aeroespacial Mexicana via DVICE]
We don't ask for much here at Gizmodo, but what we really, really want is a jetpack that costs $200. Sure, we have brought you the deal with jetpacks before, but we want something that lasts longer than two minutes, (so do our girlfriends.) Also, we would not mind a Jetsons type transportation mode that costs less than $200,000; to be exact, a $200 price point would be ideal. So, what would we do with our stratosphere explorers?
Jetpacks, the invention we've all been waiting to become a reality for as long as we can remember (along with flying cars and teleporters), are pretty much a reality at this point. While a few months ago the only two commercially available jetpacks had paltry flying times of about 30 seconds, Jet Pack International is releasing a new model early next year that'll let potential pilots take to the skies for a generous 19 minutes.
From the Philippine Agent 00 series, here's a clip of the late miniature martial artist Weng Weng showing off his mad rocket pack skills. We don't necessarily have all that much to say about the technologies employed in this clip, other than we had no idea that strapping two fire extinguishers to your back could make you fly. But evidently, it worked for this 2' 9" actor just fine...(note: we don't actually think that this worked "just fine," please don't try this at home, injure yourself just short of dying and sue the hell out of us). [weng weng wiki and funnyordie]
Instead of using flames and jet propulsion, as jetpacks are known to do, Raymond Li's invention uses water to fling you up into the air. His patent hasn't (as far as we know) been constructed yet. But it looks dangerous.
The patent says that instead of using risky propellers, rotor blades, and rocket exhaust systems that have to be attached to your back, it uses a water system only with non-flammable fluids (water) to create "sufficient thrust" for yourself. How high this thing can go, and whether it can actually work, are questions for a man actually willing to strap this on and test it himself. It's too bad whatever balls this person might or might not have had would be shot off by the high pressured water stream. [Free Patents Online via Wired]
Did you know that not one but two JetPacks are for sale right now? Pop Mechanics puts em to the test in the July issue. The Tam Rocket Belt costs $250k, flies for 30 seconds and has a top speed of over 60mph. The JetPack H202 goes 70mph, flies 33 seconds and is a bargain at $155k. Both weigh over 100 pounds, include lessons with the purchase price and are powered by hydrogen peroxide.
Next year, Jet Pack International will release a model with 19 minutes of flight that runs on Jet-A fuel, however.
Jet Packs Finally On Sale: How to Buy Your Rocket Belt [Pop Mechanics]
"Don't cover your ears, this is what you paid to see!" Glenn Martin shouts to me over the apocalyptic roar of an F22 fighter jet performing a leisurely flyby. He'd abruptly broken off a conversation with someone else just to make this point--before we'd even been introduced and hours before I flew his pack. "That's 3.15 billion of your tax dollars at work!"