With a jet wing on your back, you are (almost) Iron Man

“IT’S THE first step towards the final goal to become Iron Man,” chuckled Jetman Yves Rossy at the Xtreme Speakerbox at the Cape Argus SportShow this weekend.

The flyer was the first man to pilot a jet-powered fixed-wing strapped to his back, developed by his team at X Dubai. But Rossy, a former fighter and commercial pilot, does not consider himself to be “piloting” the wing.

“It’s kind of a magic thing,” said Rossi. “We were not made to fly – if we had been, we would have feathers. So, it’s kind of magic, to have a wing like that on your back, to fly like that, like birds, like in a dream.

“Because, to be clear, in comparison with that which has been made to fly up until now, it has to be a machine – it could be a parachute, but you need han- dles; it could be a hang glider, but for that you need a bar; and an airplane needs a stick and pedals. And you give orders to that steering system, to a machine, and it goes and you follow. It’s different with this (the jet wing). It follows you. You fly. You are not the pilot, you are the flyer. And that’s the magic of it.”

It’s Rossy’s first time in Cape Town and he hoped on future trips he would be able to show off the marvel of future flight. “So far, Cape Town is fantastic. Really nice people. What I have seen of the city, Table Mountain, having dinner at the (V&A) Waterfront – it’s really beautiful.” The suits cannot be launched from the ground, so the flyers need to be taken up by helicopter or light aircraft, before flinging themselves out and free-falling before the jet engines work with the fixed wing to create lift.

“We start the engines on the side of the helicopter, because if you have an asymmetric thrust, it doesn’t fly well. So if you’re not sure, you can imagine – if you have only three engines, you’ll go swirling around with no control.

“We start the engines to idle power. When we fall down, we increase the power and that’s also where the magic happens, because in the beginning, when you fall, you are a stone. You just fall, you have nothing to hold on to. But with the speed it becomes consistent. So first, you have to let go, just let go… and then, as soon as the speed comes up and you become more stabilised, you increase the power, you arch your back and then you catch lift. It’s all aerodynamics. You offer resistance and you move.”

Rossy said one’s body acts as the fuselage, with body movements determining the control and direction, rather than operating controls. “You have to be fit. Like bikers, you are not fighting against the air, when you move, you work with the air resistance.

“But you have to be fit. It’s physically demanding, but you don’t have to be Arnold Schwarzenegger.”

Rossy flies at between 200 and 250km/h, but the jet packs can reach speeds of up to 600km/h.

The jet wing pack weighs about 65kg when fully fuelled and, after the 10 minutes of flight the tanks allow, the pack still weighs about 35kg.

“It’s like a scuba diver, you have the tanks and ballast and flippers. On land, you look like a bad penguin. But in the water, you become weightless. It’s the same in the air.” But is it safe?

“We have a release system. That’s our plan B. If you’re not in control and you don’t feel safe, you can release and then you still have two parachutes on your back and then you are like a normal skydiver. It’s very safe. The only thing you have to respect is the minimum altitude (for parachute release).

“We have a small wing, we have four engines to provide thrusts and through that we create lift. It’s the first step towards the final goal to become Iron Man.”