Dubai Buys Commercial Jetpacks For Firefighters (martinjetpack.com)

_Sharp'r_ writes: Want to fly a jetpack? Join the fire department in Dubai. In a skyscraper filled city where cops drive Ferraris and Lamborghinis, it was actually cheaper to buy twenty $150K jetpacks (plus two simulators) for fire rescue rather than find 2700 ft ladders. Slashdot has had stories about these coming for five years. A VR-headset based jetpack flight-simulator for the masses would be fun, too, even better if the object were to put out fires in skyscrapers..

Comments

Firefighting Capacity

[zuckie13]

How much water or other suppressant can it carry? Doesn't help if you can get to a fire, and not have anything to put it out.....

Re:Firefighting Capacity

[Dutch Gun]

Doesn't help if you can get to a fire, and not have anything to put it out.....

A person trapped in a burning building might disagree. Firefighters do other things besides put out fires, you know.

These are obviously to be used for observation or search and rescue ops, not for fighting fires directly. Since these can be remotely piloted, you could theoretically fly them up, have people strap in, and fly them back down. Unlike a helicopter, you can land these things just about anywhere, even without a dedicated helipad. You might even have a chance at rescuing someone though a window or from a balcony, though that might be pretty dicey.

Let Dubai pay for the expensive first-gen models and try them out. If they're actually useful, maybe they'll get adopted elsewhere. While it's more akin to a tiny aircraft than a jetpack, this is still pretty cool tech.

Is this some luddite anti-tech site?

[Anonymous Coward]

They are commercially available Jetpacks dammit! They are incredibly fucking cool! What is wrong with you all?

Why does nobody have anything positive to say about personal fucking flying machines? What would it take to get you jaded miserable sods excited?

Re:Is this some luddite anti-tech site?

[Compuser]

These are no jetpacks, no matter what the media labels them as.
First, they are turboprops. There are no jets. In other words, it is a slightly shrunk down versions of a personal helicopter with all that implies for maneuverability and speed.
Second, they are not "...packs". These devices are huge. The cool thing about jetpacks is that they would be devices you could carry with you and they would be the size and weight of a normal bag but then you strap it to your back and you can fly. And when you fly, these devices would not stick out much from your back, thus allowing you to clear very narrow gaps between buildings and so on.
There is a reason why bicycles are not generally considered cool but skateboards are. You need to park one but not the other.
Finally, these devices are totally useless for their intended purpose. If the building is in trouble (e.g. on fire) then these will not help you put the fire out. To search, survey, or monitoring you are better off with much small drones. They can hang in the air much longer, they provide clear picture and they can navigate much tighter spaces than this monster, plus they have no operator to endanger. If the building is not in trouble but you have e,g, a medical emergency on the top floor then you are better off with an elevator. Part of the reason people are smirking is because this is clearly someone in Dubai buying himself a bunch of toys with public money. Corruption is not sexy.

It takes multiple fire fighters to control a hose

[gurps_npc]

One man holding a fire house on full power = a house splaying around randomly. That's a man using his full weight to hold it down.

Also, these things tend to have heavy weight restrictions. No way it can carry a firefighter, in full gear, holding a full grown Adult - not even a thin one.

About the only use for this might be to save a kitten or a child. Maybe a very thin women.

Ridiculous...

[burtosis]

While pressurized water jet packs, commonly used over water, might be interesting - they cannot climb to high heights as the weight and forces from the supply hose limits you to something like 30-60 feet. Nowhere near thousands. Secondly the peroxide jet packs have very low weight capacity and run for only 1-2 minutes, probably no more than four tops before needing extensive refueling and servicing. You couldn't even fly to 2800 feet and back down again, much less try to save someone.

it would be more practical, but less fun, to try just about any alternative.

Re:Ridiculous...

[markus]

JetMan's flying wing is not going to be of any use to fire fighters. It gets about 10min of flight time. The entire body of the pilot is the control surface; so, don't even think of handling any fire-fighting tools while flying. It's not even possible to turn your head in arbitrary directions or the whole things becomes unstable. There is pretty much zero extra payload. And unless there is significant forward movement, the wing is not going to provide any lift and stay airborne. This is utterly and completely useless for anything other than fun YouTube videos.

Re:Ridiculous...

[_Sharp'r_]

It does hover, actually. It's more like a drone in behavior than a rocket. So you could pick someone up, drop off breathing equipment, use it to figure out where a fire has spread to, if people are stuck somewhere, etc...

Recent Stability and engine tests

Re:It takes multiple fire fighters to control a ho

[_Sharp'r_]

I know as the submitter I'm the only one who read TFA, but it carries 265 lbs and can be either piloted (for surveillance) or else remotely controlled.

So the idea is to go look at the fires spread, look for people trapped, etc... and as a last resort send it up under remote control to pick-up a person or two.

Re: You gotta be kidding me.

[WarJolt]

More importantly it's likely to cause an emergency of its own.

Code Enforcement would save more lives

[ModernGeek]

I've heard that in a lot of oil rich countries that the stairways of their skyscrapers are used just to store things. Their mentality is that a concrete building would never burn. It's all about the fire load inside of the building, and if your paths of emergency egress is blocked, then your fatality rate is going to be much higher. A regularly inspected fire pump/sprinkler system, automatic magnetic doors closers, and training coupled with a safety plan isn't that expensive or difficult in the context of running a high rise. Followed properly, it will be the safest place you can be in.

The only trouble is, Plan B

[cozytom]

I guess these could get up to the 150th floor to offer some assistance. If the building is on fire, there will be all kinds of up and down drafts happening, the turbulence will be a huge challenge. There will be soot and ash to plug up air filters.

Imagine being up 1500ft, when the engine suddenly is at 30% power. The air filter sucked in a pound of ash, and now you are heading down. The vehicle will be dropping maybe as slow as 40mph, but that is still gonna hurt when you hit the ground. They have ballistic parachutes, and they probably will open when deployed above 1000ft, but where will you end up? The turbulence around the building may suck you into the fire or may prevent the parachute from opening. I am guessing if the engine lost power gradually, the person driving would hesitate, try to troubleshoot the problem, and then pull the 'chute a lot below the 1000ft level.

These are fun but dangerous toys. I don't seem them as being tools.