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Yesterday at the EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, New Zealand inventor Glenn Martin debuted what he calls “the world’s first practical jetpack.” Powered by a water-cooled 200hp engine, the prototype jetpack flies for about 30 minutes and may eventually be capable of reaching an altitude of 3,000 feet, although Martin has set the limit at six feet for now while he tests the controls. Forty-eight year-old Martin has been tinkering with flying devices for the past 27 years and has high hopes for this jetpack, which he hopes to start selling to the public next year at a price of around $100,000.
In the video above, you’ll see Martin’s 16-year-old-son, Harrison, testing out the pack in front of a large crowd of onlookers. Based on the video and the maximum test height, it looks like Martin’s got a long way to go before he brings this jetpack to market. But we’ll keep our fingers crossed that it becomes available soon. And if Martin can get his jetpack to reach 3,000 feet, we hope it comes with a parachute.
Earlier today, Sir Richard Branson and SpaceShipOne designer, Burt Rutan, rolled out the new WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) carrier aircraft for testing in the Mojave Desert this September. Designed to carry Virgin Atlantic space tourists on the first leg of their suborbital journey (before launching off on the second leg in SpaceShipTwo), the WK2 will hold six passengers and two pilots, with each passenger receiving a window seat.
Devised by a group of British adventurers known as the Skycar Expedition Team, the Parajet Skycar aims to be the world’s first carbon neutral flying car, running on a synthetic biofuel made from organic landfill waste. The group plans to take the flying car on a journey from London to Timbuktu (in Northern Mali) in March of 2009. While the expedition will involve a combination of driving and flying, the team will be piloting the Skycar over the English Channel, the Straights of Gibraltar, and the sand seas of the Sahara desert.
A recent airplane listing for a 2002 Bombardier Global Express has the tech community buzzing that the plane is Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang’s private jet. While we can’t confirm the rumor, we have photos and details on the 13-passenger plane, which is being sold out of Hillsboro, Oregon. As you might expect from the Yahoo CEO, the plane’s interior styling is fairly boring, but it’s still stocked with all the gadgets and luxury amenities you’d expect in a plane that costs approximately $45 million new. Speculation indicates that Yang is likely upgrading to something newer. Check out the list of high-tech features and an image gallery after the jump.
Yesterday, Los Angeles based startup ICON unveiled its plans to produce an easy-to-operate lightweight amphibious airplane that will cost about as much as a top-of-the-line Mercedes. Dubbed the A5, ICON’s amphibious airplane concept has been designed to take off and land on water as well as dry land and travel up to 140 mph at altitudes of less than 10,000 feet.
With all the controls located on one digital screen, the ICON requires less experience to fly than a traditional aircraft. About 20 hours of flight training will qualify you for the new Sport Pilot License required to operate the A5, which costs between $3,000 and $4,500 total to obtain. Just in case 20 hours of training doesn’t make you comfortable in the pilot’s seath, the A5 will feature a built-in parachute just like Cirrus’ The-Jet.
Transporting the aircraft will simply require folding up the A5’s wings and trailering it behind a car. Expect the A5 to hit the market in 2010 with a price tag of $139,000.
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