Why hang around waiting a bus when you can jetpack to work?

Why hang around waiting a bus when you can jetpack to work?

Mangalore Today News Network

London Oct 07, 2016: It’s the stuff of Hollywood movies but commuting to work using a jetpack could very soon be reality.

 

The world’s first publicly available jetpack is set to take to the skies next year, and has been put through its paces over the Thames in London.

A throwback to Sean Connery’s James Bond in the 1965 movie Thunderball, the modern-day pack is being developed by US company JetPack Aviation.

 

It has launched its first equity crowdfunding round on Seedrs, seeking to raise £300,000 to invest in further research and development for its JB-10 JetPack and VTOL aircraft.

It wants to open JetPack ‘Top Gun’ camps across Britain where members of the public can strap on a pack and take to skies over beauty spots.

 

Company founders David Mayman and Nelson Tyler have worked together for the past decade to make the JB-10 JetPack a reality. Slated for public launch in 2017, the JB-10 has a proven track record and is regularly demonstrated to huge public acclaim by aviation buff Mayman.

The company insists the latest incarnation of the pack is “not just a gimmick but has a solid technological and scientific background behind it”. Powered by two turbine jet engines, flights can last about 10 minutes reaching speeds of 60mph.

Designer Nelson Tyler has been a successful and highly recognised inventor and product developer for 55 years and among many accolades has won three Academy Awards for technical achievement.

“A lot of us spent time in our youth fantasising about what it would be like to follow Buck Rogers up into the air with our very own jetpacks,” said Mr Mayman, CEO at JetPack Aviation.

“We are getting a lot closer to launching a commercial product but there is still much further that we can take our design and ideas, so we want to give the crowdfunding community a once in a lifetime opportunity to invest in turning a dream into reality.”

JetPack Aviation were the people behind the world’s first civilian RocketBelt, as flown at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games opening ceremony.