Jetlev Water Powered Jetpack.

Man has been trying to strap on wings and fly since before Icarus went down in a blaze of glory. We have all seen old news reels of men and women crashing to the ground on ill conceived wings or running around wildly trying to dowse fires after attempting to fly by the seat of their pants. Fortunately we have come a long way since Leonardo DaVinci started designing flying machines. Lately, people are having great success flying with devices strapped onto their backs. Jetpacks, Paramotors, and Birdman suits are helping people get high above the ground. Here are a list of some of the ways that people are successfully flying without an airplane.

The US Army began researching Rocket packs in 1949 at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. By 1952, Thomas Moore had successfully tested a rocket

Lost in Space jet Pack.

pack which briefly lifted him into the air. The designed intrigued the public and Bell Labs took over development. I remember seeing episodes of Lost in Space where they zipped around on long flights over alien canyons with a jetpack. Sadly the jetpack never was able to fly longer than a minute.

In 1954 Charles H. Zimmerman’s concept for Flying Shoes took flight with the development of the Hiller Flying platform Model 1031. The first free flight took place a year later using a vectored thrust ducted fan and a lot of guts. The twin counter-rotating propellers were mounted below the pilots platform and the vehicle was steered by shifting the pilot’s weight while controlling the throttle.

Photo by airplanegeeks.com

In 1964 Domina Jalbert began development of the Ram air airfoil which later became know as Parafoils. The increased use of Parfoil parachutes by the military lead to the development of Paragliders, an extended versions of the Prafoil. Sometime around 1990 Paramotors were invented when Paraglider pilots realized they could have extended flights simply by strapping on a motor and propeller. However Jalbert may not have been the first to develop a Paraglider. In the early 1960s David Barish the inventor of the Vortex ring parachute began experimenting with a double surface parachute that he began flying on ski slope near N.Y. City.

Another improvement in Skydiving came about in the  form of the wingsuit or Birdman suit. Wingsuits are special jumpsuits with extra fabric attached under the arms and between the legs which increase the surface area of the human body to provide a significant increase in the lift generated. Wingsuits were tried as early as 1930 with limited success. There was even a movie that featured the wingsuit in the 1969 called  The Gypsey Moths  starring Burt Lancaster and Gene Hackman. Large scale use of Birdman suits didn’t begin until the late 1990s.  According to the Wingsuit flying Wiki,  “On May 28, 2011, Japanese wingsuit pilot Shin set world records for the longest wingsuit flight of 23.1 km (14.4 mi) and a flight time of 5 minutes and 22 seconds, jumped from 9,800 metres (32,000 ft)  and the fastest speed reached in a wingsuit of 363 km/h (226 mph).”

Many forms of Helicopter and Autogyros have been used for strap on fun. Headcopters don’t actually strap to the pilots back but the pilot is strapped into a harness and seat while the rotors are located above their heads. There are a variety of configurations used from dual rotor counter-rotating blade to traditional Hiller style blades. The pilot controls the Headcopter by tilting the control handle in the direction they want to go. Personally I think anyone who want to fly this way needs their head examined.

Headcopter

With the invention of R/C Jet turbine engines came a whole new craze of  jet powered flight.  Yves Rossi a Swiss pilot became the first man to fly across the English channel using what is essentially a giant Jet power Zagi strapped to his back. The Carbon fiber flying wing uses four turbine engines to power Rossi through the air after being dropped from an aircraft in flight. Rossi steers the wing by shifting his weight. Rossi continues to develop his wing to add more power and maneuverability. He was recently able to perform a  loop while in flight. Rossi is an inspiration to me, so I decorated my radio controlled glider with his image.

Authors Discus launched R/C glider

There have been many other devices that people have strapped to there backs to fly but I have a new favorite. The Jetlev not only makes you look cool it can keep you cool to. The Jetlev  is a tethered water jet pack. It uses a powerful pump to move water through a hose attached to the Jetlev backpack. The water exits the nozzles of the Jetlev and propels the pilot upward. The pump is mounted in a shell similar to a jet ski and it follows the pilot wherever they go. What is also cool about the Jetlev is that the pilot can fly up to 30 feet above the waves and then dive down up to 30 feet below the waves. At $100,000 each, it will be a while before I get my own, however you can rent one for about $250 a day in many resort areas.

The dream of flight is such  an overpowering draw that makes folks willing  to do anything and take any risk to fly. Now that  more is understood about science of  flight we should see a big jump in innovation. People are pretty resourceful and the urge to fly will encourage people to strap every conceivable type of flying device onto their backs. If you feel the urge to play Rocketeer, I want to know about it. I would like to know more about your projects and share some with you. Why not subscribe to the Makermasters news letter.

photo from filmcritic.com

Build and Fly a Paramotor (safely and for cheap) from Sky-Monkey on Vimeo.

http://youtu.be/bebQSc9rEg0

timpickens.com




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK01QH2A0HA

http://youtu.be/U-3Ql7G7qRc

Sources:

• http://www.hiller.org/flying-platform.shtml
• youtu.be/bebQSc9rEg0
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domina_Jalbert
• http://www.flyaboveall.com/articles/davidbarish.htm
•  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domina_Jalbert
• http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-and-Fly-a-Paramotor/
• http://www.businessinsider.com/7-crazy-hollywood-concoctions-that-actually-exist-2011-3?op=1
• http://uniquedaily.com/2010/11/paragliding-vultures/