Boba Fett’s Got Nothing on You, Glenn Martin
July 29th, 2008 by 
Morgan J. Locke
My goodness, but this is extremely cool. Given global warming and the price of fuel, it’s undeniably self-indulgent to the point of Gaia abuse to fantasize about owning my own jetpack. But I can’t help it; I’m a sucker for fly-tech.
Inventor Glenn Martin has created a real, honest-to-guru working prototype of a jetpack, which recently took its first voyage at a flying contraptions fair in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Click on the image to watch the video and read about it at the Chicago Tribune.
(That, btw, is his 16-year-old son Harrison piloting it, neatly settling the debate over whether or not having an inventor for a parent is Teh Coolest! Thing! Evar!)
Posted in Morgan, Science, Technology | 
July 30th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Morgan, if I had a million dollars I’d buy you a jet pack and the carbon offset so you could use it guilt-free.
July 30th, 2008 at 8:45 am
You’re so thoughtful, Mad.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:13 am
Looks like a modern take on the Hiller Flying Platform from the ’50s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSCyy0_OX4
July 31st, 2008 at 9:50 am
Wow–that is really cool, Stan! The kinds of problems they talked about in the video would probably be addressable today, with modern tech.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Yeah - I figure that with a little software and modern materials you could get one of these really humming.
The other similar really cool toy is the Williams WASP/X-Jet. It uses a prehistoric (’70s) era cruise missile jet engine to provide a flying pulpit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJARrc40imk