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Jet Pack Runs For Hours On Water
Ponca City, We love you writes "Jet packs have been around for half a century, but there's always been one problem: they run out of fuel in around 30 seconds. Now a German company has taken the standard jet pack design, run a fat yellow hose out the back, and connected it to a small unmanned boat that houses an engine, pump, and fuel tank and sends pressurized water up the hose, where it's shot out by two nozzles just behind the wearer's shoulders. Called the JetLev-Flyer, the design purportedly can reach a height of 15 meters, a speed of 72 kph, and a range of 300 kilometers based on four hours of flying time. A digital fly-by-wire system is used to control the throttle. Future designs may achieve higher altitudes, higher top speeds, and extended range, and even travel below the water's surface. The American manufacturers claim it is 'amazingly easy to learn and operate' and they're taking orders now at $130,000 each."
and a range of 300 kilometers based on four hours of flying time.
But based on the actual length of the hose, the range is more like 100 feet.
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
It actually runs on whatever powers the engine that drives the pump.
I assume this is dragging the boat after you.
What exactly are the advantages over just simply using a boat?
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"The chances of a demonic possession spreading are remote -- relax."
... that is, not to have any wires or hoses connecting it to something else on the ground or in the air. Duh.
Seriously, these guys take some sort of high-output water pump and call it a jet pack?
I doubt how anything that makes you spin 300 km of circles around a fixed point in the water (and probably vomiting every now and then) is going to make you look cool.
The web site advertises two models :
155 HP = EUR 99,000 which is $125,116 (£88,122)
215 HP = EUR 119,000 which is $150,392 (£105,924)
so the Telegraph has the prices wrong.
(Exchange rates courtesy of Google)
God: An invisible friend for grown-ups.
FTFS:
:)
> but there's always been one problem: they run out of fuel in around 30 seconds
But that's what made them fun in the game
One of the earliest uses for balloons and large kites was to tow an elevated observer behind a ship. I guess navies will be extremely interested in this. It's much less visible than a helicopter, cheaper, and safer, yet it permits over-the-horizon observation. Think of pirates off Somalia. Currently they can easily see and avoid ships, but fast patrol boats can't see them beyond a few miles. With one of these a small intercept craft can see the pirates, while remaining almost invisible themselves. Think of it as a floating artillery OP and the uses are obvious.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
YouTube video
Most people are missing the point of this. It isn't a sensible solution, it is a FUN solution. I would love to have a go.
wot no sig
So... what's it going to be used for? Rescuing cats from trees along the river?
Basically the same use case as a parasail towed behind a ski boat. They are a lot of fun, actually.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Same for flying cars. Just look at the number of *regular* car accidents. Adding an extra degree of freedom will not exactly lower down that number.
It looked fine in Back to the Future Part 2. How hard could it be? They had floating lane dividers and everything. The only problem I can see is that it will add a whole new dimension to being "double-parked".
You can advertise in this sig from as little as £99.99 a month!
This is pretty much a human Water Wiggle:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4D_WdavMuKs
__ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
Mario has been doing this for years, and he doesn't even need the "small unmanned boat". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Mario_Sunshine
As many others have pointed out, the name "jet pack" conveys entirely the wrong meaning. Jet packs are by implication untethered, with the "pack" containing everything required by the jet. So we need a more appropriate name to convey that the pack is tethered, and that the jet is pulling something on the end of its tether along.
Well the answer is obvious: this is a JET CART, because the jet takes the place of a horse and is pulling the cart (boat) along. Naturally the horse is tethered to the cart, and it can't get any further from the cart than the length of its tether (pipe) --- the name conveys the right meaning exactly.
With a bit of flexibility from readers, this could even be taken as a car analogy. ;-)
"The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
to take a ride on the Firehose.
Set your phasers on "funky"!
This sounds like a recreational device, and perhaps an interesting one. Calling it a "James Bond-style jet pack" is rather misleading, though.
Safety: a fall into water from that height is not safe but not suicidal. I wonder how bad it is to be underneath and accidentally get sprayed by one of those jets? The video clip is silent; I'll bet the thing makes a hell of a racket. I wonder how many waterfronts will put up with it.
I'm thinking, team sports. An extreme kind of polo or soccer or something. With players deliberately maneuvering to hit each other with the jets and/or tangle their hoses.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
I have a crane that runs on gravity!
i wish i could stop
Yeah this idea is so old, I mean...cmon:
http://media.giantbomb.com/uploads/0/8178/446755-mario_with_fludd_super.jpg
Is this going to replace/augment the firetruck with a more flexible and maneuverable rescue platform?
Who says that it needs to be connected to a boat.
But at least it is compatible with over 70% of the earth's surface
To allow respectable recreational boaters over 50 to be armed with twin torpedo tubes and surface-to-air missiles. As the NRA keeps telling you, an armed society is a polite society.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I don't think you get the design. The hose reaches down to a raft. The raft has the energy plant and sucks up the water which is pumped to the jet pack.
Essentially, this is a Jetski seat which hovers above the water via a tether down to the jetski.
Go and look up what a jet actually is. Here. Let me help you.
Pay particular attention to number 4.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
In Soviet Russia... the [waterskier|parasailer] tows the boat!
Clap on: Amazing device that is completely useless.
Clap off: Recession (and reality) checks in. End of extremely useless device.
*** Don't be dull.***
So basically you're at the end of an uncontrolled firehose tethered to a boat? Didn't Buster Keaton or Charlie Chaplin do this?