Leap Into The Sky From Your Own Backyard

Posted on 6 August 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in sports

Mini Helicopter

No longer will do you have to only dream about flying like James Bond. The day is fast approaching when you will be able to do it yourself, right from your own backyard.

Martin Aircraft, a New Zealand-based firm, has just released information about a strap-on mini helicopter, that travels at 62 mph for about 31 miles. There is also a smaller version that travels at only 6 mph in a controlled outdoor area, such as a football field. With very few instructions you too could be airborne.

Inventor Glenn Martin said, “To be able to fly solo in a fixed-wing aircraft can take 15 hours of flight training, but most people are able to learn to fly the jetpack in a few minutes.”

This new sport could begin to compete with bunjee jumping, or skydiving. The only catch is you will have to travel to New Zealand for the experience. The company hopes to be able to expand to Australia and the United States in the near future. Orders started pouring in to the company, after the mini helicopter was shown at a trade show in Wisconsin.

Each Martin Jetpack costs around $150,000, the price of a high end sports car.

If the jetpack is not your speed, there is always the rocket belt, designed by Stuart Ross, a commercial pilot. It can shoot the wearer 1000 feet into the air at 60mph.

Back Pack Flying For One

In preparation for his upcoming unattached test flights, Ross sought advice from the Civil Aviation Authority, who referred him to a psychiatrist from their medical department. The content of the visit was never revealed.

The rocket belt has cost Stuart around $200,000.

As an alternative for the more daring, you can climb into a light aircraft and cruise to a few thousand feet, strap on a jet-powered set of wings and open the door and fall out.

The wearer can then cruise at around 190 mph and is able to dive, soar and perform figure eights. You can even perform a spectacular roll. All this in the matter of just a few minutes.

Portable Jet Powered Wings

“It’s like being on a motorbike. But I have to focus on relaxing, because if I show any tension, I start to swing around,” says extreme sports enthusiast and former fighter pilot, Yves Rossy, who flies commercial planes for Swiss airlines.

It took five years of training before Rossy would display his wings in public.

Rossy is making plans to cross the English Channel later in the year, knowing this will test man and machine to the limit. He also has plans to fly the Grand Canyon on his jet powered wings.

The cost of the wings is too high to ever become a commercial proposition. To date Rossy and his sponsors have poured over close to $300,000 into the project.

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