Wings over the Channel....

[+Tailspin]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080926/ap_on_...tain_rocket_man

[Rambler 1-1]

could it be the practical Jetpack?

[+DoctorQuest]

No. Using a parachute for landing sort of negates the "practical" aspect. (Having the chute as a safety measure is another story.)

 

Trust me. Since my Jonny Quest days I would LOVE to see a truly practical jetpack. This is a remarkable achievement but we're not quite there yet IMHO.

 

It's got to be a serious rush flying that bad boy!

[+whiteknight06604]

could it be the practical Jetpack?

It's practical in that it seems to work.But as of now it still needs to be air launched.might have some use for infiltrating special forces deep into enemy teritory though.I would be curious to see how much weight somone could carry and if the weight allowence may be able to be increased if a major corperation was able to put up some funding for research.

[+Tailspin]

As I see it, its basically just a powered glider. The interesting aspect is the guy seems to have designed a set of "hard" wings that can be "worn" and they work. The engines gave him enough thrust to get across the 22 miles in 10 min. which gives an average speed of over 120mph. I don't know about military applications...those little turbojets are pretty noisy. The already proven HALO type of insertion would probably be more practical.

[Rambler 1-1]

ah, just make the wing bigger, add a landing skid and eat only beans for a week before takeoff. Problems solved.

[+Gr.Viper]

What about this one?

 

Ka-56

 

Foldable!!!

 

Project never finished 'cause we can't find a decent small engine for it in this country.