Another Pass at the Personal Jetpack 259
Engadget is reporting that dreams of a personal jet pack may not be quite as distant as you might think. Skywalker Jets, created by Rick Herron boasts a 90-pound jet pack capable of propelling a 200-pound pilot through the air for about five minutes without the hassle of charred lower extremities. The production model, which he hopes to run past the FAA soon for approval, will only cost you somewhere in the neighborhood of $200,000 — so start saving your pennies.
I can just see it now (Score:5, Insightful)
Insurance? (Score:5, Insightful)
The insurance premium will be huge.
Re:I can just see it now (Score:5, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I can just see it now (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
The crowd won't exactly be 10 feet off the ground. One guy will be 50 meters up and heading east to his job. Another will be 30 meters up and heading northeast. Another 100 meters up heading south, and so on and so on.
Once they've figured out the jetpack technology, they're going to have to get to work on some pretty clever crash prevention tech as well.
For $200k, I'll stick with airplanes... (Score:3, Insightful)
Lessee...the plane:
So why, exactly, would I spend money on this? It might have a larger coolness factor, but that'll wear off fast.
Re:I can just see it now (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The video is hilarious (and a scam) (Score:3, Insightful)
have you seen the jeep commercial? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:5 minutes?! (Score:4, Insightful)
It's my dream car.
The wright brothers first flight didn't even last a minute. It was worth it.
Utility isn't the only measure of value.
Re:FAA? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:one other little thing (Score:2, Insightful)
If you read up on the history of jet/rocket packs (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:If you read up on the history of jet/rocket pac (Score:3, Insightful)
That's why you build the control algorithm into a $10 10MHz microcontroller - it can compensate faster than humans.
GPM? (Score:3, Insightful)