TECHNOPHILE

— Zoom in on rocket man

On 3 November last year tourists visiting the Statue of Liberty were startled to see a man in a jetpack flying around it.

It wasn’t a stunt scene from an Iron Man film but a promo. The man in the grey suit was Australian inventor David Mayman, the founder of Jetpack Aviation. Watching Mayman careen and pirouette through the sky with seemingly effortless control makes you want to rush online to place your order. But although the company’s marketing material tells us “the personal jetpack is here” you’ll have to wait a little longer for a jetpack of your own.

Jetpacks first entered the popular imagination when they were depicted on the covers of pulp science fiction magazines in the 1920s. The United States military made a serious attempt to build one in the 1950s, during the Cold War. By 1961, US president John Kennedy was treated to a working display of a jetpack prototype known as the rocketbelt (it consisted of a rocket strapped on to the back with a belt). But although the demonstration was successful, the army was unimpressed with the rocketbelt’s 20-second maximum flight time and the project was shelved. Since then, men with jetpacks have zoomed about on stage and rudimentary screen: think of the 1965 James Bond flick, Thunderball, or the 1984 Olympics opening ceremony in Los Angeles, or Michael Jackson’s glitzy 1992 tour.

Jetpack Aviation won’t be the first company to go to market with a jetpack. A New Zealand-based firm, Martin Jetpack, announced their product will go on sale in late 2016. But the 200-kilogram Martin is more like a personal aircraft than a jetpack; far too bulky for a pilot to carry around. Instead of a jet engine, it uses ducted fans for thrust like a quadrotor drone. But it can fly for 30 minutes. In 2015, Dubai Civil Defence placed an order for 20 Martin Jetpacks at US$200,000 a pop. They plan to use the devices for “reconnaissance and rescue” missions across the towers in the City of Gold.

Jetpack Aviation’s JB-9 is the first jetpack to use a jet engine light enough to be carried on the pilot’s back.

It’s the brainchild and passion project of Mayman, an aviator, inventor and businessman who made his fortune in mining and software. To make his childhood dream come true, Mayman hooked up with fellow dreamer Nelson Tyler in the 1990s. A multi-award-winning Hollywood camera engineer and pilot, Tyler designed the rocket belt that flew during the opening ceremony of the 1984 Olympics.

As self-described jetpack purists, Mayman and Tyler were determined to use a jet engine for thrust. And with the JB-9 (their ninth prototype), they’ve succeeded. The JB-9, powered by two small turbojet engines that run on kerosene, is as light and portable as the old rocketbelt but can fly 30 times longer. With a top speed of 100 kilometres per hour, it’s also much faster than any previous design.

The jetpack is light enough for Mayman to jog several hundred metres while wearing it, even when it’s loaded with fuel, and its compact size allows him to pirouette in mid-air or land in tight spaces.

To build a jet small enough to fit on somebody’s back, the engine has to compensate by revving very fast to achieve lift off. As a result the JB-9 guzzles four litres of fuel per minute, limiting flying time to 10 minutes. That’s not great for touring but enough for some medical emergencies. The jetpack could give a new meaning to the phrase “flying doctor”.

With its greater manoeuvrability and ability to land in tighter spots, the JB-9 is set to give Martin Jetpack some stiff competition. But JB-9S are not for sale. Would-be customers will have to wait for the JB-10, which will include a parachute to make the jetpack safer and auto-stabilisation systems such as those used in drones, that will make it easier to fly.

The first application the designers have in mind is a high thrills air-race. It may be a few more years yet before the jetpack rises beyond its established role of stunt spectacle entertainment.