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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."
That's not flying, it's falling with style.
It isn't the flying that's the hard part, it's landing with the bones in your body intact.
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
The biggest engineering obstacle he had to overcome was how to fit in the corkscrew.
Don't exactly remember how he landed, though.
Painfully.
Formerly GNU/Anonymous Coward. This message has been determined to cause cancer in laboratory animals.
After him, several other people published books on building small jet engines, like this one, for instance.
... Just throw yourself at the ground and miss.
The dude jumps out of a plane with a homemade jetpack and flies around for six minutes, and you're not impressed?
Holy crap...
If you don't speak French, I'll give a brief summary of his comments.
Basically, at the beginning he explains a bit about how it was designed. One point he made was that his reason for the foldable design of the wings was so that it would fit in the plane. The other interesting thing he said was that the design was effectively that of an airplane - with his body serving as the fuselage.
After the flight he just explains that after he jumped out of the plane he did a little half-turn to catch the wind. He also mentions that the wing unfolded nicely - and that when he kicked in the gas that he moved forward and he could tell that at that point he was flying. He said it was really cool, too. (Which I think we'll all agree is the case!)
Also - I'm not a native French speaker. I'm American but lived in Paris a couple of years - any native French speaker care to comment on the guy's accent? Is that a Swiss accent? (I'm presuming so, but I was curious to know from a native.)
Sigh. My id isn't prime. 2 2 2 2 2 3 5 313
Dear Santa,
If it's not too late, I would like to add a jetpack to my Xmas list. You can cross off the PS3 if that helps.
Thanks!
www.sjbaker.org
I wouldn't think he'd be aerydynamic enough with a sack that large hanging underneath..
I'm impressed by the fact that he was his own test pilot ... ... learning the flight characteristics on the way to the ground ...
Obviously, a quick learner.
I'd be interested in knowing what his "Plan B" was in the event the wings folded up in flight, or one engine exploded.
engines grenade 2 feet from his groin