New Zealand's Martin Jetpack company debuted its $100,000 personal flight apparatus Tuesday at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wis.
As thousands looked on, inventor Glenn Martin's 16-year-old son donned a helmet, fastened himself to a prototype and revved the engine, which sounded like a motorcycle.
With two spotters preventing the jet pack from drifting in a mild wind, the teenager hovered for 45 seconds and then set the device down as the audience applauded.
"Wow, that went better than expected," Glenn Martin said afterward. "People will look back on this as a moment in history."
The imposing machine, technically an ultra-light aircraft, weighs 250 pounds and doesn't exactly clip onto the user's back. Rather, you strap yourself into it, and both and the machine are supported by a pogo-stick-like stand.
The 200-horsepower gasoline engine powers two high-powered downward-thrusting propellers, enclosed in airflow-focusing cowlings, that push the craft and its rider off the ground.
But the Martin's more conventional propulsion give it much longer staying power -- a whopping 30 minutes in the air, far longer than any of its rivals.
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