Saturday at the Hiller Aviation Museum’s Jet Pack Show in San Carlos, Calif., scientists, inventors and pilots taught visitors about research and progress in the field of modern jet packs. Organizers claim the event was the largest collection of jet packs ever assembled in one place for display. Modern players like Jet Pack International, Thunderbolt Aerosystems, and Solotrek mixed with research experts that included former Bell president Hugh Neeson. The recently famous Martin JetPack, which flies on two ducted fans powered by a single engine and was publicly debuted at AirVenture Oshkosh this year, was not in attendance. Flight times for current jet packs are most often counted in seconds, but Jet Pack International is one company offering a model that it says can fly for 9 minutes and can be had for $200,000 (flight training included). If you want to stay aloft for longer periods of time, you’ll have to wait for technology to catch up with your desires. A 20-second 130-decibel demonstration flight made an instant celebrity of pilot Eric Scott who has already acquired the experience of some 700 flights over 16 years. Jet Pack International may be hoping for more celebrity — the company has been working on a reality television show based on its search for new pilots.
