There are few things in this world more exciting than seeing your childhood science fiction movies come to life. Among one of the things we’ve wished we had for decades are jet packs, which can take us up into the air and send us from point A to point B very quickly.
One firm, dubbed Jetpack Aviation, has done just that, in creating the world’s first true jet pack called the JB-9, which uses actual jets to propel the man through the air rather than just drone propellers or propelled gliders.
It’s a jet-turbine powered backpack, which is lightweight and capable of keeping a man in flight for up to 10 minutes. The next iteration of the man’s jetpack, called the JB-10, is light-weight, small enough to fit into the trunk of a car, and can lift a man then thousand feet into the air, travelling at speeds of nearly 100 miles per hour.
Below, you can watch David Mayman, CEO of Jetpack Aviation and the casual test pilot, take the JB-10 for a ride around New York City:
It’s worth noting that the team behind this particular jetpack has been working on it since the 1970’s. Only now with today’s technology has the real thing starting coming together nicely enough to actually be used.
“Our goal has always been the produce the lightest and smallest jetpack possible, so while we could have achieved longer flight times by using turbofan engines we opted instead for twin turbojets,” Jetpack Aviation says on their Web site. “We have worked with a number of engine manufacturers over the years and have needed to make many modifications to their engines and engine control units to perform as required for use in a jetpack.”
Something like this may one day be available on the market in the distant future, but due to the costs in manufacturing one of these, it’ll likely only be available to those with a lot of money. Then, there is of course the issue of governmental regulations, which will have to be placed on these such that no laws are broken and that no one is endangered in the process of using them.
Source: Jetpack Aviation
