Kiwis do fly!

The Martin Jetpack was (finally) presented to the EAA 2008 Airventure audience in Winsconsin. I took almost 30 years and lots of kiwi ingenuity to make it come true, from Glenn Martin's early ideas to prototype 9 which achieved sustained flight times, laying the foundation for a viable and successful pre-production.

The Jetpack is such a powerful idea that several people have tried to develop them. The first serious attempts were instigated by the US military in the 1950s. The idea was to build an ultimate 'all terrain vehicle' to move military commanders around a battlefield. The Bell Rocket Belt was the most successful and first flew in 1961. Unfortunately it only flew for 26 seconds, leading Mark Jannot of Popular Science Magazine to say in March 2006… “ I myself was most disappointed to discover that a Jetpack that will burn for longer than 30 seconds is out of reach.”

ciao