I believe I can fly

NEW ZEALAND: Have you ever dreamed of flying to work in a jet pack? An aircraft company in New Zealand has just presented a prototype – and expects to be producing 500 jet packs a year. 

The first time a jet pack appeared outside science fiction was in 1961, when American Wendell Moore created the Bell Textron Rocket Belt. This was a thrust-driven jet pack that could fly at up to 60 miles per hour (approximately 97 km/h).

Unfortunately, a person wearing Moore’s belt could only stay in the air for about 20 to 40 seconds, depending on the model. And the belt was powered by hydrogen peroxide, which is expensive and not widely available. Later rocket belts, such as those made by TAM in Mexico, also use rocket technology.

The Martin jet pack, invented by Martin Aircraft Company in Christchurch, uses a modified aircraft engine, and can travel at an altitude of up to 2,400 metres at a maximum speed of 100 km/h. Even better, it can stay in the air for 30 minutes — and it uses petrol, just like a car.

The Martin jetpack uses petrol, just like a car.

But how safe is it? “We think we have done a lot to make this by far the safest jet pack ever built,” the company's founder, Glenn Martin, told The New York Times. The safety features include a ballistic parachute from Ballistic Recovery Systems: this opens quickly and can be used even at a low altitude.