Jetpack launched

Updated 14.15 Wed Jul 30 2008

Keywords: laws, oshkosh, glen martin, wisconsin, airventure, airshow, aircraft, plane, Jetpack, flight, US, America

A personal jet pack has been launched at an experimental aircraft show in Wisconsin in the US.

The jet pack made its first ever public demonstration flight in the US, on the condition that it was held down by two assistants the whole time it was airborne.

The Martin jet pack is designed for 30-minute flights

Its creator Glenn Martin said it had been given a more rigorous trial in New Zealand.

"Doing it here is a little bit different, there are slightly different regulations and qualifications," he said.

The jet pack must fly under the US Federal Aviation Administration's ultra-light regulations because it's powered by a piston-driven engine.

The Martin jet pack is designed for 30-minute flights and is a huge technological leap from the 30-second flights made by the Bell Rocket Belt in the 1960s.

With more than 27 years of technology going into its design, the developer said he had high hopes for its future.

"In a year's time we'll be where the Wright brothers were in 1905. We'll be able to do what they did in Paris, fly around for 20 minutes doing figure-8's," said Martin.

Martin began taking orders for jet packs to be delivered at next year's AirVenture, though he's keeping his sales expectations in check.