Well this jetpack may actually be practical.

Father Xmas · 05-31-2011 06:46 PM

The ducted fan "jetpack" that was shown off at Oshkosh back in 2008 is back.

9 1/2 minute video.

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Rush_Bolt · 05-31-2011 08:00 PM

The Batman Begins music was a nice touch.

That said, pretty awesome!

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Chaos Creator · 05-31-2011 09:19 PM

Feet aren't supported looks uncomfortable.

Oathbound · 05-31-2011 10:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chaos Creator

Feet aren't supported looks uncomfortable.

Actually they are. They weren't in the footage from the airshows, which I agree would be horribly uncomfortable, but the test flight with the dummy you can see a footbar has been added (in addition to the parachute).

They proved you can get to altitude with it, and parachute safely from that height, but there remains the issue of low altitude failure, where the parachute wouldn't have time to deploy and slow you properly.

A 200ft fall is potentially just as deadly as a 2000ft fall.

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Le Blanc · 05-31-2011 11:20 PM

Scary, but WANT!

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Lord_Nightblade · 05-31-2011 11:35 PM

That is totally bitchin.

Goodbye, I guess.

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Zikar · 06-01-2011 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oathbound

They proved you can get to altitude with it, and parachute safely from that height, but there remains the issue of low altitude failure, where the parachute wouldn't have time to deploy and slow you properly.

A 200ft fall is potentially just as deadly as a 2000ft fall.

Reliability will be the major thing. As long as it's reliable as say, a helicopter, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

_Klaw_ · 06-01-2011 08:04 AM

250 pounds! It's not a jetpack it's a miniature helicopter.

Father Xmas · 06-01-2011 10:25 AM

More like a flying motorcycle.

Also, a helicopter, even a small one, can autorotate when the engine fails. Riding on a column of thrust, you're sort of toast when the engine goes (reason for the chute).

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Gobbledygook · 06-01-2011 06:37 PM

Want NAO!!

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ebon3 · 06-01-2011 07:22 PM

See what happens when you mock somebody you arrogant ********* newscaster

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Lothic · 06-01-2011 11:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zikar

Reliability will be the major thing. As long as it's reliable as say, a helicopter, it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Reliability is obviously important. But the other thing that'll make-or-break this gizmo is flight time. The current problem with most "jetpacks" up until now is that they could only give you a minute or two of usable flight time before you'd run out of fuel. If someone can ever make a real life jet pack that could offer say even 10 or 15 minutes of flight time then they'll finally have something approaching practical.

P.S. I was unable to watch this video due to restrictions at my current location so I don't know if it mentioned the flight time of this vehicle. If it did it'd be nice if someone could repeat that here in a post.

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Oathbound · 06-02-2011 01:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lothic

Reliability is obviously important. But the other thing that'll make-or-break this gizmo is flight time. The current problem with most "jetpacks" up until now is that they could only give you a minute or two of usable flight time before you'd run out of fuel. If someone can ever make a real life jet pack that could offer say even 10 or 15 minutes of flight time then they'll finally have something approaching practical.

P.S. I was unable to watch this video due to restrictions at my current location so I don't know if it mentioned the flight time of this vehicle. If it did it'd be nice if someone could repeat that here in a post.

Supposedly upwards of 30 minutes.

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Diggis · 06-02-2011 01:30 AM

Bah, the US news presenter was an idiot to mock him. He demonstrated a working jet pack prototype. It was only going to get better, and now he looks like a fool. Good work Glenn!

Gotta love Kiwi ingenuity.

SuperOz · 06-02-2011 01:54 AM

The major reason for why this jetpack can fly so much longer than others is that it runs on petrol, not any special fuel or propellent. That's a huge step forward in this technology, and like anything else, it'll be expensive and large to begin with and surely but steadily downscale in both departments.

Welcome to the future.

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_Klaw_ · 06-02-2011 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Father Xmas

More like a flying motorcycle.

Also, a helicopter, even a small one, can autorotate when the engine fails. Riding on a column of thrust, you're sort of toast when the engine goes (reason for the chute).

Yeah too true. It will probably be classed as an ultralight if it gets passed the safety concerns about engine failure close to the ground and fire protection.

ebon3 · 06-02-2011 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperOz

The major reason for why this jetpack can fly so much longer than others is that it runs on petrol, not any special fuel or propellent.

Hmmm... I wonder if its air-cooled and a 2-stroke powerplant, and I wonder if its hooked to a generator that powers some electric motors?

That'd be a really effcient way to power the jetpack if your using gasoline as a fuel source. An air-cooled 2-stroke would be pretty durable as well as light with the only downside being noise and pollution which 2-strokes dont do so well on, but if your looking for power density and reliability, its a good way to go.

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SuperOz · 06-02-2011 07:47 AM

Dunno. Maybe there's some links that have some details? But they did make the joke that you could fill up like you would a car. It was a noisy beggar in the video.

S.

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Le Blanc · 06-02-2011 07:53 AM

Quieter than a lot of bikes I have seen (heard?).

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Ironik · 06-02-2011 08:19 AM

The design is reminiscent of the DoD jetpack from some years ago.

It's definitely cool, but my favorite personal aircraft is still the dual-rotor heli-pack from Japan demonstrated as Oshkosh some time ago (early 90s?).

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Ironik · 06-02-2011 08:32 AM

I think this may be the one I was thinking of.

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Ironik · 06-02-2011 08:38 AM

Not the one I was thinking of, but here's a video of a helipack.

Edit: here's the Japanese one.

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Oathbound · 06-02-2011 09:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperOz

Dunno. Maybe there's some links that have some details? But they did make the joke that you could fill up like you would a car. It was a noisy beggar in the video.

S.

Technical details here.

Uses a 2stroke V4 apparently.

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synthozoic · 06-02-2011 11:23 AM

So what's the flight duration on all these jet packs? Because that's one of the main problems that limits the utility of jet packs.

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ebon3 · 06-02-2011 11:27 AM

http://martinjetpack.com/app_media/b...e%20engine.pdf

I figured as much and I see its got a 360w generator attatched with peak torque occuring between 3500-6000 rpm and thats where an engine is most effcient at peak torque (highest BSFC or Base Specific Fuel Consumption).

Yep thats how I would have done it. No pesky mechanical tranmission and the engine can operate at peak effciency by dint of having to only drive the generator which powers the ducted fans and crontrol surfaces.

Hard to tell if its air-cooled though? It just seems like it wouldn't since a water-cooled engine adds weight with the heat exchanger and coolant.

Add in some roller bearings for the crank and rods with full floating pistons and you wouldn't even need an oil pump (colloquially known as splash and pray oiling, as a full roller recipocating assembly needs very little lubricating oil).

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