7 ms·

It's 2010 - finally my jet pack is here

38 points by elblanco 17y ago

shrikant 17y ago
Looks more slick, but just as scary as the one shown in Arrested Development.
spectre 17y ago
A friend of mine is the test pilot for them. He said their quite cool to fly, but scary as hell.
- rbanffy 17y ago
  If it's not scary, it's not cutting edge. When did we start to assume that strapping yourself to an engine-and-propellers (or ducted fans) gadget and flying around would be anything close to safe?
RyanMcGreal 17y ago
We Were Promised Jetpacks [1] will be delighted by the news. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Were_Promised_Jetpacks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Were_Promised_Jetpacks
rbanffy 17y ago
It's not really a jet pack. It's more a thing you strap yourself onto than something you could carry on your back. Would an A380 qualify as a jetpack if I managed to strap myself to its underbelly?
- 10ren 17y ago
  And it's also not a jet, but a fan. A fan-strap? Nomenclature aside, it's still cool though.
  - rbanffy 17y ago
    Don't get me wrong. I want one. A jet-pack. Although owning an A380 would be really cool. Now I just have to convince my wife.
- ugh 17y ago
  What’s the human/jetthingie ratio that turns it into a jetpack? :)
  - dagw 17y ago
    If you can't walk a mile wearing it, it isn't a jetpack.
    - hugh3 17y ago
      Who needs walking? I have a jetpack!
  - blaix 17y ago
    If you strap it to your back, not strap yourself into it. In other words, you can walk around with it.
oozcitak 17y ago
For the metric headed readers like me: Dry weight: 113 kg (250 lbs) Pilot weight: 64 - 109 kg (140 - 240 lbs) Measures: 152 cm high x 167 cm wide x 152 cm long (5 ft high x 5.5 ft wide x 5 ft long) Rotor size: 52 cm (1.7 ft) Maximum thrust: 272 kg (600 lbs) Fuel capacity: 19 liters (5 gallons) Fuel burn: 38 lph (10 gph) Can reach: 2500 m (8000 ft) Range: 51 km at max speed of 101 kph (31.5 miles at 63 mph)
- elblanco 17y ago
  I've always wondered why metric users call measurements in grams "weight" when it's really mass and measurements in Newtons is weight. Sorry, I'm an American befuddled by perfectly sensible decimal based measurement systems.
  - oozcitak 17y ago
    What is meant when using grams as force units is actually the gram-force (which is not part of the SI units). But the -force suffix is typically dropped in informal speech, so gram appears to be used as both a mass and force unit.
    - rbanffy 17y ago
      I also round 1 kilogram-force to 10 Neutons. Unless you are trying to hit another planet, you'll be fine.
  - ugh 17y ago
    Can’t we have our own inconsistencies? Believe me, physics teachers hate the common informal use of gramms as weight but that’s what our parents told us :)
sammyo 17y ago
I think you can buy this one now: www.jetlev-flyer.com It's connected to a water source which limits about a 10M altitude, and the market seems to be focused towards a adventure tourist market.
tocomment 17y ago
I think a water powered jet pack would be awesome. You could keep the pump and power source on the ground so it would be a very small apparatus. You'd be tied to the ground by a hose but it would still be fun. In fact, I wonder if that could be an alternative to extension ladders. Imagine cleaning your gutters riding on a jet of water.
- ldite 17y ago
  It exists; http://www.jetlev-flyer.com/ http://www.jetlev-flyer.com/
  - tocomment 17y ago
    Cool! Just get the price down from ~100K to 1K and you have something that could help with housework and construction. I wonder how hard it would be to build one of these myself.
pw0ncakes 17y ago
Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but: let's solve these oil and CO2 problems before trying to popularize flying cars and jet packs.

38 points by elblanco 17y ago

shrikant 17y ago

Looks more slick, but just as scary as the one shown in Arrested Development.

spectre 17y ago

A friend of mine is the test pilot for them. He said their quite cool to fly, but scary as hell.

rbanffy 17y ago
If it's not scary, it's not cutting edge. When did we start to assume that strapping yourself to an engine-and-propellers (or ducted fans) gadget and flying around would be anything close to safe?

RyanMcGreal 17y ago

We Were Promised Jetpacks [1] will be delighted by the news. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Were_Promised_Jetpacks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Were_Promised_Jetpacks

rbanffy 17y ago

It's not really a jet pack. It's more a thing you strap yourself onto than something you could carry on your back. Would an A380 qualify as a jetpack if I managed to strap myself to its underbelly?

10ren 17y ago
And it's also not a jet, but a fan. A fan-strap? Nomenclature aside, it's still cool though.
- rbanffy 17y ago
  Don't get me wrong. I want one. A jet-pack. Although owning an A380 would be really cool. Now I just have to convince my wife.
ugh 17y ago
What’s the human/jetthingie ratio that turns it into a jetpack? :)
- dagw 17y ago
  If you can't walk a mile wearing it, it isn't a jetpack.
  - hugh3 17y ago
    Who needs walking? I have a jetpack!
- blaix 17y ago
  If you strap it to your back, not strap yourself into it. In other words, you can walk around with it.

oozcitak 17y ago

For the metric headed readers like me: Dry weight: 113 kg (250 lbs) Pilot weight: 64 - 109 kg (140 - 240 lbs) Measures: 152 cm high x 167 cm wide x 152 cm long (5 ft high x 5.5 ft wide x 5 ft long) Rotor size: 52 cm (1.7 ft) Maximum thrust: 272 kg (600 lbs) Fuel capacity: 19 liters (5 gallons) Fuel burn: 38 lph (10 gph) Can reach: 2500 m (8000 ft) Range: 51 km at max speed of 101 kph (31.5 miles at 63 mph)

elblanco 17y ago
I've always wondered why metric users call measurements in grams "weight" when it's really mass and measurements in Newtons is weight. Sorry, I'm an American befuddled by perfectly sensible decimal based measurement systems.
- oozcitak 17y ago
  What is meant when using grams as force units is actually the gram-force (which is not part of the SI units). But the -force suffix is typically dropped in informal speech, so gram appears to be used as both a mass and force unit.
  - rbanffy 17y ago
    I also round 1 kilogram-force to 10 Neutons. Unless you are trying to hit another planet, you'll be fine.
- ugh 17y ago
  Can’t we have our own inconsistencies? Believe me, physics teachers hate the common informal use of gramms as weight but that’s what our parents told us :)

sammyo 17y ago

I think you can buy this one now: www.jetlev-flyer.com It's connected to a water source which limits about a 10M altitude, and the market seems to be focused towards a adventure tourist market.

tocomment 17y ago

I think a water powered jet pack would be awesome. You could keep the pump and power source on the ground so it would be a very small apparatus. You'd be tied to the ground by a hose but it would still be fun. In fact, I wonder if that could be an alternative to extension ladders. Imagine cleaning your gutters riding on a jet of water.

ldite 17y ago
It exists; http://www.jetlev-flyer.com/ http://www.jetlev-flyer.com/
- tocomment 17y ago
  Cool! Just get the price down from ~100K to 1K and you have something that could help with housework and construction. I wonder how hard it would be to build one of these myself.

pw0ncakes 17y ago

Not to sound like a curmudgeon, but: let's solve these oil and CO2 problems before trying to popularize flying cars and jet packs.