The Martin JetPak: A $100,000 Nerdy Flying Machine
On Tuesday, New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin displayed at a Wisconsin air show what he describes as the ultimate personal flying machine, the world’s first practical jetpack. Modern-day attempts to build jetpacks have evolved from the 1940’s and 50s comic book marvels and early television-series heroes, such as Buck Rogers, Rocketman, Commander Cody, Captain Video, and Tom Corbett (Space Cadet). Since the 1960s, science geeks have built a number of real jetpack designs from metal, plastic and propellant, but none has been able to fly for more than a minute.
But Mr. Martin’s jetpak is said to be able to run for 30 minutes. The contraption doesn’t look much like the classic jetpacks of science fiction. It stands five feet tall, rests on three legs and its rotors look a bit like cupcakes. Mr. Martin has somehow been able to make the future look pretty nerdy. It is also not, to put it bluntly, a jet. Mr. Martin acknowledges that a gasoline-powered engine runs the Martin JetPack, not really jets as we know them today. He explains that the gas-powered engine creates a jet of air. According to Martin, most important thing is that it flies.
And just how well does this very, very noisy dream machine fly? Well so far, the ultimate personal flying machine that is priced at $100,000 hasn’t flown any higher than six feet. That’s about $17,000 a foot.
A Preview: The Ultimate Personal Flying Machine
Wisconsin Air Show: The Premier of The Martin JetPak
Technorati: art, culture, cultural, humor, funny, comedy, entertainment, Glenn Martin, JetPak, Martin JetPak, multimedia, New Zealand, news, photographs, photography, science, society, technology, video, world, world news, jet, flying, flight, science fiction, Wisconsin
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