Another Pass at the Personal Jetpack

Engadget is reporting that dreams of a personal jet pack may not be quite as distant as you might think. Skywalker Jets, created by Rick Herron boasts a 90-pound jet pack capable of propelling a 200-pound pilot through the air for about five minutes without the hassle of charred lower extremities. The production model, which he hopes to run past the FAA soon for approval, will only cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 — so start saving your pennies.

Comments

I can just see it now

[AdvancedLoser]

people who forget to check how much fuel they have left while still hundreds of metres in the air plummetting down like bags of wet cement.

Re:I can just see it now

[Z0mb1eman]

What's the difference from divers who forget to check how much O2 they have before they dive?

Re:I can just see it now

[Inquisitus]

The divers are only harming themselves.

Insurance?

[__aaakhl8499]

whatever about the cost of purchasing, running and maintaining one of these - I can't imagine any insurance company taking on the risk that the pilot won't do serious damage to property and by-standers.

The insurance premium will be huge.

Re:Why?

[linvir]

The crowd won't exactly be 10 feet off the ground. One guy will be 50 meters up and heading east to his job. Another will be 30 meters up and heading northeast. Another 100 meters up heading south, and so on and so on.

Once they've figured out the jetpack technology, they're going to have to get to work on some pretty clever crash prevention tech as well.

have you seen the jeep commercial?

[way2trivial]

(is it jeep?) where the guy kisses his wife, and parachutes into the canyon to his car?/ how do you think exactly, he goes from the driveway back to his house...