It’s been nearly three decades since William Suitor, aka Rocketman, wowed about 2.5 billion viewers around the world when he took off with his rocket belt over the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Olympic games in Los Angeles. And it was around the same time that inventor Glenn Martin, the founder of Martin Aircraft Company out of Christchurch, New Zealand, began working on a concept that has become the Jetpack. The Jetpack recently received approval from New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority to begin manned flight-testing.
Pilot James Bowker described his first flight to New Zealand’s One News as a “mixture of scary and just awesome.” The Jetpack has been tested extensively as high as 5,000 feet using remote control and a dummy, but the CAA has limited manned test flights to 20 feet and below over ground and 25 feet over water. The Jetpack is expected to have a 30-minute range and fly at speeds up to 40 knots. With full fuel, which is required with such limited range, the payload is targeted around 220 pounds.
