The Real-Life Iron Man Jetpack that Actually Flies

Megalith

Megalith

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I am not sure why this is being compared to Iron Man. Last time I checked, Tony’s repulsors did not look like they came out of a kitchen cabinet and appear as if they could explode at any second, taking his limbs off.
 
I wouldn't even consider that flying, more like hovering.
 
Gotta admit it's cool and dangerous, but it demonstrably proves how difficult is to get something to even remotely working like Iron Man. Until computer controlled vectored thrust gets to wearable size, I don't think a setup like this is going to fly.
 
I can appreciate the cool factor of such a thing, but I'm also a practical-minded fellow. This isn't . . . practical.
 
So this guy is deaf right? No normal person could wear those and still have their ear drums still in one piece could they?
 
Dekoth-E- said:
ROFL, all he did was take a bunch of off the shelf turbines and strap them together. He didn't even bother changing the shroud so you know exactly which brand he used. These particular ones are Jet Cats. http://www.chiefaircraft.com/radio-control/turbine-engines/jetcat.html.
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Why would he have to take the covers off to do this. You want him to build his own jets then? Whatever.... another internet spouter Hating. You do this . BTW this was posted at **************************** yesterday.
Edit oh I see Steves sites is not allowed here. WTF.
 
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1/2 bent said:
Why would he have to take the covers off to do this. You want him to build his own jets then? Whatever.... another internet spouter Hating. You do this . BTW this was posted at ************** yesterday.
Edit oh I see Steves sites is not allowed here. WTF.
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If I had enough money to drop 3k a pop for those I could do that.
 
I was much more impressed with the guys fitness level, than the Jets.
 
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The video was more of a promo of him showcasing his fitness prowess.

There was too much talking and too much production hype. I skipped until I saw the bits with the hovering - everything else was just annoying.
 
Just RC level turbines, why on the arms I have no idea, as you are supporting your whole body weight in your arms/upper body, that will wear you out pretty fast.
 
This is hilariously impractical and unsafe

He needs to have an exoskeleton to support these turbines, and geared controls to fine tune movement. Instead he just relies on strength?
 
I like how the vast majority of the video just shows the guys life routine and not him flying around...which is what we want to see.
 
HorseproofBacon said:
I like how the vast majority of the video just shows the guys life routine and not him flying around...which is what we want to see.
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What we really want to see is the inevitable catastrophic crash that comes from realising your arms aren't great (ie not rigid) structures to mount jet engines (or rockets) on.
 
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Haters gonna hate.

Seems fun and dangerous. As long as he is only risking himself, I don't see what is the harm.
 
BlueFireIce said:
Just RC level turbines, why on the arms I have no idea, as you are supporting your whole body weight in your arms/upper body, that will wear you out pretty fast.
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Jets on the bottoms of your feet are incredibly unstable. This is why most planes had the propellers on the front. Arms provide some stability since they get closer to "pulling" the mass instad of pushing it, and also provide more mobility and control options than legs, but they are obviously weaker, so it's a tradeoff. It was cool to begin to see what it would take use something like this. Maybe with an exoskeleton that took the force but allowed the user to still do the control of direction?
 
tempertantrum said:
Jets on the bottoms of your feet are incredibly unstable. This is why most planes had the propellers on the front. Arms provide some stability since they get closer to "pulling" the mass instad of pushing it, and also provide more mobility and control options than legs, but they are obviously weaker, so it's a tradeoff. It was cool to begin to see what it would take use something like this. Maybe with an exoskeleton that took the force but allowed the user to still do the control of direction?
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Didn't say anything about legs, and if you were going that route, it would be easier to make a platform of some sort rather than something you strap on with computer control for stability. He needs to take a page out of the book of peroxide based jetpacks, which use a type of frame mounted to the back with over head thrust system that can be controlled with simple hand movements, most of the load is in the waist and thigh area. With the thrust higher up and angled away from the body it makes it far FAR more stable as well. It seems like he was trying to hard to be like iron man with thrust from the hands than he was about practical function, and if that's the case, it's fine, but still a long way off from iron man or even practical flight.

JetPack Aviation took a page from those other packs and make a proper back pack, they went a step further and added in a small amount of thrust vectoring. Because of this they have pretty good flight time, as far as actual jet packs are concerned, very stable, quite fast forward speed and does not require you to be a fitness God. Still a total toy, as flight time is just minutes, I think the video above they do something around 4 mins, which is with actual flight and not "trying" to just hover.

You then have Martin Jetpacks, which is really more of a larger platform you "ride" in, and not what most people think of as a jetpack, it does however have a half hour or longer flight time. Still not practical for anything, but it does get into the usable toy range.
 
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