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A Working, Winged Jetpack from Switzerland
serutan writes "A Swiss airline pilot and self-described adrenaline junkie named Yves Rossy has developed a working jet-pack and flown it more than 30 times. Actually, it's a pair of rigid carbon fiber wings strapped to his back, with two small kerosene-powered jet engines on each wing — essentially a small jet airplane using the pilot's body as the fuselage. His flights have lasted up to 6-1/2 minutes at speeds over 100mph. Rossy's website and YouTube have some pretty cool videos of him flying around over the mountains like Buzz Lightyear. He is working toward ground takeoffs and landings, but currently he jumps out of an airplane, unfolds the wings and flies until he runs out of fuel, then parachutes to the ground."
Please, no YouTube links. Roughly since Google acquired them, they've been growing increasingly worthless for watching anything more than a few seconds long. Typically, after 30-60 seconds, play stops and doesn't resume at all. At least other sites still try to stutter along. YouTube just quits trying at all. That's exactly what happened when I tried to play two of these videos
In my experience, YouTube's become a waste of time. It's so undependable, it's not worth the bother. Google needs to give it enough resources to work or abandon the idea altogether.