Yesterday Glenn Martin unveiled a jetpack that has taken test pilots to altitudes as high as 3ft. Martin, who describes his machine as the "world's first practical jetpack", is confident that by next year he can make a staple of science fiction a reality. "If you can fly it at 3ft, you can fly it at 3,000", he said.
Martin, a New Zealand inventor, plans to sell his jetpack to Buck Rogers wannabes for $100,000 (£50,000). And although the jetpack - not actually powered by jets, but by rotors - is more of a Heath Robinson-style contraption than the sleek device of the popular imagination, he trusts enthusiasts will be drawn to the freedom and excitement of solo flying.
The jetpack, unveiled at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is powered by a V4 petrol engine running two large rotors. Aviation authorities have classed it as an experimental ultra-light airplane.
"It was very loud, very noisy, very hot. It was like a beast that roars," one of Martin's test pilots - his wife, Vanessa - said of an early flight. "But once you throttle up, you feel it bite, and you leave the ground, and there's this feeling of floating and freedom - you become quite overwhelmed."
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