Personal Jetpacks One Step Closer To Reality After Successful Emergency Parachute Testing
If you'd asked me when I was 10, I would have told you WITHOUT A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that by 2011 we'd all be shooting around in the sky with jetpacks on, crashing into each other, getting sucked into jet engines, and all around dying every way possible a person with a rocket strapped to their back can. But are we? Nooooooooooooo. Enter Martin Aircraft, the developer of a 'jetpack' (which actually functions with ducted fans and not jets) I've been reporting on since 2008, just waiting to get my hands on one and touch the sky. Oooooooor hover outside your bedroom window watching you change.
Jetpacks...have no passive ways of generating lift, so if you run into a mechanical issue, you're pretty well screwed. Martin Aircraft is well aware of this potentially fatal shortcoming, so they've installed a ballistic parachute system designed to get you to a safe landing no matter what happens.
A ballistic parachute is just like a normal parachute except that it uses a small explosive charge to deploy itself really, really fast. Since you don't have to wait for the parachute to open, it'll do its job even if you're close to the ground
There's still no official release date, but there is a video after the jump of a guy taking the thing to 5,000ft (you should have gone the extra 280-feet to a mile and played with yourself!) and deploying the emergency parachute. SPOILER: it worked. "Dammit!" You're sick.
UPDATE: Test dummy, not an actual person. Now even I'm pissed that shit didn't catch fire and explode.
Hit the jump for an okay video.
Commercial jetpack tests explosive parachute at 5,000 feet [dvice]
Thanks to Mike, Joseph B., costy and Reed, who have all reached for the stars with over $100 of fireworks strapped to their backs. How'd that work out for you guys? Nothing but burnt buttcheeks? Shocking Smoldering.
-
I know all about Greek mythology because I've played through the entire God of War series twice, so I'm practically an expert. Sometimes the producers of Jeopardy even call me to make sure they've got their facts right. Having Alex Trebek's home phone number on speed dial asi... / Continue →
-
This $40 backpack from Hot Topic (I know, I secretly love that place too!) holds shit and makes you look like a ninja turtle. What more could you ask for from a bookbag? Jesus, it's not gonna do your math homework. This backpack is in the shape of a half-shell and includes f... / Continue →
-
NOTE: VIDEO BEST WATCHED WITH CANDY AND ICE CREAM BUT NOT POP-TARTS. I honestly didn't know what a strike out was until I watched this, and I think it's pretty safe to say I've been living my life in vain. This video is so jam packed with important life lessons that I'm thin... / Continue →
