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The First 'Practical' Jetpack May Be On Sale In Two Years

Posted by Soulskill on from the for-sufficiently-impractical-values-of-practical dept.

Daniel_Stuckey writes "This week, New Zealand-based company Martin Aircraft became certified to take what it calls 'the world's first practical jetpack' out for a series of manned test flights. If all goes well, the company plans to start selling a consumer version of the jetpack in 2015, starting at $150,000 to $200,000 and eventually dropping to $100,000. 'For us it's a very important step because it moves it out of what I call a dream into something which I believe we're now in a position to commercialize and take forward very quickly,' CEO Peter Coker told the AFP."

3 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. I'd rather have by ackthpt · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A portable, one man blimp with pedal power.

    just try to keep me out of your cactus farm now!

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. How is this better than an ultralight helicopter? by joe_frisch · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Look at the Mosquito aviation stuff: http://www.innovator.mosquito.net.nz/mbbs2/mosqspec.asp
    1 hour endurance at 70mph at 5 gph. 1/3 the horsepower and higher cruise speed.
    The mosquito costs $30K. for a kit, 200 hours build time.

    People build helicopters rather than lift-jets because moving a large volume of air slowly is more efficient than moving a small volume of air quickly. (force is goes as (M/s)*V, power as (M/s)*V^2).

    A compact jet pack you could wear would be great, the this isn't it.

  3. Re:hmm by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Also you can't put turbines in ground effect like that, they won't last 10 flights. A totally idiotic idea.