'Time' names NZ's high-flying Jetpack
The Martin Jetpack, a New Zealand invention that is close to realising man’s dream of conquering personal flight, has made Time magazine’s Top 50 Best Inventions List.
Developed by Glenn Martin - of the Martin Aircraft Company in Christchurch - the Jetpack has been described as the most anticipated invention of the year.
Martin has spent 30 years on what he calls the world’s first practical Jetpack - a gasoline-fuelled 113kg personal back pack that uses patented fan-jet technology to provide sustained flight.
Final development stages
New Zealand Minister of Research, Science and Technology Wayne Mapp
says the Time magazine listing raises the profile of both the Jetpack and New Zealanders’ ability to bring great ideas through to market development stage.
Mapp says the Jetpack, which allows an individual to hover and fly, is a world first, and having it close to being sold is an outstanding achievement.
Two versions of the Jetpack - manned and un-manned - are in the final stages of development but require further funding for mainstream production.
Overseas interest
Requests have been flooding in from individuals, governments and military organisations from around the world, and the Martin Aircraft Company says it is hoping to secure New Zealand investment to put a production process in place.
Chief executive Richard Lauder says the company has already signed a country-specific joint venture for the delivery of more than 500 Martin Jetpacks a year for emergency response, and is in active discussions with four other defence companies.
It also has had 1600 enquiries from individuals who would be prepared to pay an estimated US$100,000 each for the Jetpack for recreational use.
Lauder says the availability of the Jetpack is conditional on funding but could go on sale within 18 months of securing investment.
Background: Martin Jetpack
The Jetpack was launched internationally in 2008 at the EAA AirVenture air show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in the US, one of the world’s largest air shows.
It received rave reviews and has since created interest in both the aviation and recreational vehicle markets.
The Jetpack has a purpose-built gasoline engine that drives twin-ducted fans producing sufficient thrust to lift the aircraft and a pilot in vertical takeoff and landing, enabling sustained flight.
The machine is capable of flying for up to 30 minutes, 100 times longer than its predecessor, the Bell Rocket Belt.
Inventor Glenn Martin, a former research biochemist, has invested nearly 30 years and almost half his family’s disposable income into the Jetpack - disappearing into his garage every night to work on his invention.
His first test pilot was his wife, Vanessa who remembers leaving their seven-week-old baby in the house, running out to the garage to have the Jetpack strapped on her back, then testing it and running back into the house.
In 1999 Martin left his job to work on the flying machine full time, and the Martin Aircraft Company now has a management team, an experienced board and global network of advisers.
The Martin Jetpack has now completed more than 2,500 successful test flights, amounting to more than 100 combined engine hours.
More information
NZ flying machine launched at US airshow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLccl_NWDQE