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The Hoverboard Flies Closer To Reality
Dave Knott writes: Fans of 1980s cinema were disappointed when the year 2015 arrived without a practical version Marty McFly's hoverboard. Now, a Montréal-based man has brought it closer to reality by setting a new record for longest "flight" by hoverboard. In a filmed test recognized by the Guiness Book of World Records, Catalin Alexandru Duru pilots his somewhat cumbersome looking rig for 250 meters — five times the previous record — at a height of five meters above Quebec's Lake Ouareau. Duru and his business partner "hope to have a new prototype finished by the end of the year and then have hoverboards available for purchase across the country. He wouldn't say how much the prototype cost to build, but said that the first generation of the machine will likely be 'quite expensive.'" "This thing is still quite dangerous," he added, explaining that the pilot uses only his or her feet to fly the contraption. The commercial version's software will limit it to flying below a height of about one-and-a-half meters above the ground.
If they had watched Back "2" The Future for a moment, they'd know the 2015 version isn't supposed to work on water yet. ;-}
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The Williams X-Jet did it better and did it 40 years ago.
45 min duration, speeds of up to 60 mph, and no flying in a straight line over water, but flying in and around trees over land!
Might be a problem filling up with jet fuel at the local Shell.
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In 40 years people have also got a lot heavier.