Inventor says jet packs ready to take off

July 29, 2008 By DINESH RAMDE , AP Business Writer

(AP) -- This isn't how a jet pack is supposed to look, is it? Hollywood has envisioned jet packs as upside-down fire extinguishers strapped to people's backs. But Glenn Martin's invention is far more unwieldy - a 250-pound piano-sized contraption that people settle into rather than strap on.



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earls
Jul 29, 2008

Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
googleplex
Jul 29, 2008

Rank: 4 / 5 (4)
I found some videos at http://video.google.com by typing in Martin Jetpack.
I wanna try.
Sean_W
Jul 29, 2008

Rank: 4.7 / 5 (3)
It is an interesting device and may have some applications once development is completed but there are some competing concepts for personal flight. Certainly, routine transportation would not be the primary use of this particular type of vehicle.
GaryB
Jul 29, 2008

Rank: 4.7 / 5 (3)
slig
Jul 30, 2008

Rank: 4 / 5 (2)
but does it blend?
DGBEACH
Jul 30, 2008

Rank: 4 / 5 (2)
but does it blend?

I'm sure that if you went up with your pet parrot that it would "blend" quite nicely...maybe even "puree" :)
Lord_jag
Jul 30, 2008

Rank: 3 / 5 (2)
30 miles in 5 gallons Hm... that's 6 mpg. While I'd love to fly to work instead of drive, I don't see that helping the world much. Even the worst sedan gets 20mpg and carried 4-6 passengers... (though usually only one.)

It's a toy for the rich. Maybe someday it will be environmental as well.
Rank 4 /5 (26 votes)
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