Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Flying high: Jetpack invention reaches 5,000ft as futuristic transport gets ever-closer to commercial use

Travelling by jetpack used to be something only seen in science fiction.
But the first commercial suit could soon be on sale following another successful step on the flight towards production.
Over the weekend, a team of New Zealand inventors behind the Martin rocketman suit conducted a test flight that saw them soar to 5,000 feet.In the test, carried out over the Canterbury region of the country, a dummy took the place of a passenger as it was flown by remote control from a helicopter.
And in another first, the suit then descended to 2,000 feet before deploying a parachute and landing, albeit with rather a large bump.The flight lasted around ten minutes, making it the longest ever recorded.
The successful test brings the reality of flight by jetpack another step closer after 40 years of development by inventor Glenn Martin.Mr Martin has spent NZ$12million on the venture, but now hopes to bring in more investment and possibly even start mass production.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1392871/Jetpack-invention-reaches-5-000ft-futuristic-transport-gets-closer-commercial-use.html#ixzz1O16N6GSV

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