How to fly a jetpack in style Friday, 13 November 2015

Australian David Mayman has flown a jetpack around the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Mayman developed the jetpack with American inventor Nelson Tyler and the flight was the culmination of a 10 year challenge to design and build a light-weight, wearable flying device.

Mayman, who is a qualified pilot, described the flight as his lifelong dream.

“It was an incredible experience, one I have been dreaming of since I was a young boy,” he said.

“It’s the culmination of decades of work by Nelson and me. But today is just the beginning. We have established the company JetPack Aviation to continue R&D and commercialise our invention. We have just proved that personal flight is a reality, it’s here and we will stay at the forefront of this.”

Tyler has a long history working on jet packs, having created the RocketBelt pack flown at the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

“It would be wonderful if one day this opens the door to a vast new industry of affordable personal air transportation with applications for search and rescue, law enforcement, disaster relief and recreation,” he said.

“We will continue to develop the technology and have already created an extraordinary machine, truly the only jetpack in the world.”

Tyler said the RocketBelt wasn’t a true jetpack and the technology behind it was incredibly simple. It catalysed hydrogen peroxide fed under pressure into a silver screen catalyst pack, requiring no electronics but unfortunately capable of only extremely short flight times (30 seconds maximum).

The JB-9 flown by Mayman uses miniature jet engines working on the same principles as aeroplane jet engines and requiring systems to start and cool engines, to manage fuel flow and to capture operating information for display to the pilot. Significant electrical energy is also required, with the start process often drawing more than 50 amps and ongoing draw of 15 amps or more, so battery technology is also important.

The company said the flight as approved by the US Federal Aviation Administration and Coast Guard and ultimately they are looking to commercialise their jetpacks.

 

Image: JetPack Aviation