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The Truth About New Jet Pack Hype
An anonymous reader writes "This week a sub-$100,000 rocket belt was unveiled and will be on sale this summer, but that's the sad thing: it's still not a real jet pack. Here's a fascinating inside look at the human-flight industry, full of law-suit scandals, technical difficulties, fuel-economy woes and endless delays. The good news? It all points to the next generation of rocketeer research, with real applications for medical rescue and military technology actually coming on the horizon. From the article: 'With a little patience, and a little funding, we could actually have the pleasure of grumbling over regulatory issues we never dreamed possible. Like being limited to specific kinds of air strips, because the jet strapped to your back is classified by the FAA as an ultralight. Or being required to wear a ballistic parachute, because Amarena's Thunderjet design could reach altitudes as high as 10,000 feet (and, for the record, speeds of up to 160 mph, provided someone can solve wind-resistance issues).'"
Just because it looks cool in a Bond movie doesn't mean that it will ever be practical in real life.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
Two fun facts about this project that were glossed over in the old school movies of these things in action are the NOISE and the short flight times.
The TV series Wings covered the first generation of these jet packs and broke my heart when they revealed the true story behind the promotional movies. The pilot wasn't flying for the whole movie, of course, the film crew filmed a few seconds of flight, the pilot would land, refuel and the whole process was repeated and pasted together in post-production. They also dubbed new sounds over the outrageous screech/howl the original packs made.
Watching the film as a kid, I clearly remember thinking there's no way the thing could fly for that long, but the excitement of seeing a guy fly through the woods overcame my skepticism. Clearly though, even with the new films and fuels, we have the same jet pack, the same limited range, the same ear shattering exhaust note. Nothing new IMO.
of your flying car. You could go anywhere!
I just had a mental image of soccor moms firing themselves into walls at biblical porportions, drinking a latte, chatting on the cel phone,
I hope there is an IQ minimum *shudder*
Hi, I Boris. Hear fix bear, yes?
Or any "reasonable" height for that matter. Jet pack use does not fail gracefully. No glide ratios or gyroscopic descents, just Ahhhhhh... splat. A parachute sounds like a fairly good idea here.
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
I solve wind resistance issues by coating myself with astroglide.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
It looks like a jet pack. It's a pack, on the guy's back, and it flies -- apparently with some kind of jet-like propulsion system. Neither article appears to answer this question that the summary gives as axiomatic. Anyone know?
everything in moderation
Comment removed based on user account deletion
from the article:
"The number of companies looking to sell them to private consumers has increased by as much as 33 percent in the last week alone... while last year there were two commercial rocket-belt manufacturers... there are now three."
Going from two to three would be a 50% increase, not "as much as 33 percent"
Can anyone tell me how to set my sig on Slashdot?