Kiwi ingenuity is alive and well and flying a Jetpack 5000 feet above sea level.No longer the stuff of comic stories, the Martin Jetpack is soaring to incredible heights, and could go even higher, according to its inventor Glenn Martin.
The Jetpack, which relies on two powerful fans to get airborne, is attracting international interest, including from the US military, but its potential uses are wider.
Japanese authorities dealing with the earthquake-damaged Fukushima nuclear power station even looked into using it to take test samples above the plant.
The flight near Ashburton on the Canterbury plains in New Zealand was piloted by remote control, with a crash-test dummy in the pilot's position. The machine flew to 5000 feet, then down to about 2000 feet before firing a rocket-propelled parachute. From there it sailed safely to the ground without damage.
A dummy was flown first for safety reasons and a real person will be second.
The jetpack can go places where helicopters can't, such as the sides of cliffs and between trees and buildings.
The next step would be to develop a parachute similar to those used on jet pilot ejector seats which opened faster than the rocket-propelled type.
To develop the jetpack to this point had cost $12 million in savings and venture capital and 30 years of Martin's life. And the intention was to float the company on the sharemarket, to raise capital to get the jet pack into mass production. Early estimates were that one might retail for about $60,000.
