Jetpacks #
Like, real jetpacks. (Although technically, it’s not a jetpack.)
On Tuesday, an inventor from New Zealand unveiled what he calls “the world’s first practical jetpack” at the EAA AirVenture, the gigantic annual air show here. The inventor, Glenn Martin, 48, who has spent 27 years developing the devices, said he hoped to begin selling them next year for $100,000 apiece.
(via Boing Boing)
UPDATE (7/30/08); Via BBGadgets, Adam Savage (of Mythbusters fame) makes a good point:
The bugbear with this type of vehicle isn’t getting airborne, it’s stability. He says that it can go to 8k feet for 1/2 hour. That’s theoretically. I see a device going 1 foot off the ground with 2 big guys guiding it. In fact, I’ve seen not a single untethered pic.
I’d love it to be true, but I see too many warning flags. Sounds like a money raising stunt. Every time one of these companies is about to run out of money, they hold a “demonstration” and make a prediction that they’ll be selling them within some short period of time. I doubt it. Moller’s been predicting that people will be flying to work in 10 years, for the last 40 years.